"The Western Conference Finals are the real NBA Finals."

We all read that or heard it on a podcast just a week ago, before the two conference finals rounds tipped off. Versions of it have popped up again in the past handful of days to push back because exuberant Knicks fans, who are feeling themselves after watching their team destroy Cleveland and everyone else in their path and returning to the NBA Finals for the first time since "Livin' La Vida Loca" was the No. 1 song in the nation.

The argument that the Knicks were a doormat for the West winner is not that the Knicks were a bad team, it's that they were playing in the JV circuit. Meanwhile, the 64-win defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder with MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, going up against the 62-win San Antonio Spurs with Victor Wembanyama was the varsity.

That argument would have merit if we were talking about the regular season Knicks, a 53-win team with a +6.5 net rating — a quality team, a contender, but a step below the Spurs and Thunder.

These playoff Knicks are different. This team can compete with the best — they have won their 12 games so far by 273 points and lost two games by one point each (on CJ McCollum shots). This is a team that has shown the grit and resilience needed in the postseason. Think about what The Kincks have going for them.

• Jalen Brunson is being Jalen Brunson, an All-NBA player, an elite shot creator and scorer.
• Karl-Anthony Towns has thrived as the hub of the offense, but more importantly, even when the Cavaliers did a good job of forcing the Knicks away from that offense, Towns impacted games, hit the boards hard (12 rebounds a game against the Cavaliers) and continued to play the best defense of his career. He's not been a target as he has been in the past and has shown real range on defense.
• Mikal Bridges has become the two-way force the Knicks envisioned when they gave up a Brinks Truck full of picks to land him — 18.5 points a game on 54.7% shooting against Cleveland.
• OG Anunoby has been a two-way force and shot 36.8% from 3 against Cleveland.
• Landry Shamet can't miss off the bench — he hit 11-of-12 3-pointers against the Cavaliers.
• Mitchell Robinson has been healthy and a force on the glass and defensively throughout the playoffs.
• The Knicks are a legit eight deep in guys Mike Brown can trust in the Finals (sorry Jordan Clarkson and Jose Alvarado, it might be a rough next round for you).
• Brown can coach. Casual fans may try to slander him with the "journeyman" tag, but this guy coached the Cavaliers to the Finals (2007), has won rings as an assistant with the Warriors (who was occasionally forced into the big chair because of Steve Kerr's back), and whose best coaching job may have been getting the Kings to the playoffs for the only time in two decades.
• The Knicks offense clicked with KAT as a high-post hub, and when the Cavaliers — with two quality big-men defenders — took that away, the Knicks comfortably adjusted to going back to the trusted "have Jalen Brunson hunt weak defenders" offense of years past, and the Cavaliers provided James Harden and other targets.

Over the past couple of years, we have seen flashes of this peak version of the Knicks, but they could never sustain it. That’s changed — they have won 11 straight games, and there is confidence around this team, a swagger we see from champions. Playing like this on both ends, they can hang with anyone. Now the Knicks get a week to rest and recover before the NBA Finals start June 3, while the two teams in the West continue to beat each other up.

These New York Knicks absolutely can win the franchise's first NBA championship since 1973.

Enjoy this moment, Knicks fans, but also know the cakewalk sweeps are over — whichever team comes out of the West is light years ahead of any team New York saw in the East (with a nod to Joe Lacob for the light years reference).

The Knicks are not going to be the favorites in the Finals, nor should they be — they are going to have to prove they did not just beat the JV teams.

There is no James Harden or Donovan Mitchell to isolate and hunt on the Spurs or Thunder. Both West teams have the size and physicality to make life difficult for Towns as the hub of the offense in the high post. Both West teams have elite rim protectors. Both West teams have elite guards who can target Brunson and force him to defend. The dramatic advantage the Knicks had on the wings against the Cavaliers will not be there against the Spurs or Thunder. No team in the East has a shot creator on the level of SGA right now, and no other team in the universe has a Victor Wembanyama. Both West teams have more versatile rosters than anything the Knicks have seen.

Most importantly, the Knicks have not had to play at near the level of intensity or physicality that we have seen in the West Finals. It's going to be a shock to the system going against that level for the first few minutes — driving lanes aren't there, and passing lanes close up fast.
The Knicks can reach that level the way they are playing. Bridges and Anunoby can match up with any of the wings in the West. The Knicks starters are finally clicking (after a couple of years of waiting), and the bench of Robinson, Shamet and Miles McBride gives them the depth that can hang with those West squads. When the Knicks beat the Spurs in the NBA Cup Finals, one thing was critical — New York cleaned up on the offensive glass. Mitchell Robinson was at the heart of that, and he is going to have to have a monster series against either West team.

It's a tall order for the Knicks — but these Knicks are capable of reaching those heights. John Hollinger of The Athletic compared them to another champion that meshed at the right time — the 2011 Dallas Mavericks, led by Dirk Nowitzki — and that feels apt.

The real NBA Finals are still ahead of us and the Knicks are relaxing at home, waiting for them to start. When it does, these Knicks are capable of winning it all.