What the Knicks' historic playoff run can teach athletes, performers, and anyone facing long odds.
As a sport psychologist, it is hard not to root for the Knicks right now. They are the most local team to our practice here in Red Bank (RIP NJ Nets), and what they are doing in this playoff run is genuinely remarkable. They are showing tremendous grit and resilience, never giving up when the odds are stacked against them: down 20 against Boston, down 29 against San Antonio in Game 4 last night, and still finding a way.
Let's break down some of the quotes from this postseason, especially from last night's incredible comeback win over the Spurs, and explore what they can teach you as an athlete, a performer, or anyone who competes under pressure. This applies directly to athletes, but also to actors, dancers, musicians, and performers of all kinds who face high-stakes moments in their work. High-stakes performance is high-stakes performance, regardless of the stage.
1. Present-moment focus: one possession at a time
As a performer, one of the top strategies is staying in the moment. That is much easier said than done, and it is especially difficult when the present moment is not going your way: like being down 29 points at the half in Game 4 of the NBA Finals. This is not a skill that magically appears when you need it. Like making a three-pointer, it requires practice. We train this skill through awareness of sensations, body scans, mindful breathing, and a number of other grounding strategies that build the capacity to return to right now when the mind wants to spiral.
Both of these quotes describe present-moment focus in action. Neither player was thinking about the 29-point deficit as a whole. They were thinking about the next few points. That incremental, possession-by-possession focus is exactly what we train in sport psychology work: breaking an overwhelming challenge into the smallest actionable unit and staying there.
2. Belief and self-efficacy: controlling what you can control
Staying in the moment is hugely important, but believing in yourself and your team strengthens the ability to stay there. We cultivate feelings of self-efficacy through mantras, positive self-reflection, and building a track record of evidence that even when the score is stacked against you, there is still a chance. This also connects to controlling what you can control. If you believe in yourself, you can believe that your performance is within your influence, even when circumstances are not.
That second quote is one of the most clinically useful things I have heard an athlete say in a long time. Past performance, especially past comebacks, becomes evidence. Evidence builds self-efficacy. Self-efficacy fuels belief. And belief makes staying present possible even when everything is telling you to give up.
3. Resilience: weathering the storm
Resilience is about sticking it out when things get tough: not giving up, not quitting, reminding yourself what you have been through to get to this moment. The concept of weathering the storm also connects directly to present-moment awareness. We cannot control that there is a storm. We can control how we move through it. By keeping past adversity top of mind, athletes and performers build a reservoir of resilience they can draw on when things get hard.
Notice that Brunson is not dwelling on the streak. He is not savoring it or protecting it. He has reframed it entirely: the biggest game is always the next one. That is resilience applied prospectively, not just in recovery from a setback but as a daily orientation.
4. Process over outcome: focus on what you can do
Process over outcome, sometimes called process over performance, is a key skill in sport psychology. It keeps athletes and performers focused on what they need to do and what they can control, while giving them measurable tasks rather than abstract goals. "Win the game" is not actionable. "Get this stop" is. "Cut it to 20" is. This mindset reduces performance anxiety and keeps attention where it belongs: on execution.
"Possession by possession" is process thinking in its purest form. It is the same instruction a musician might give themselves measure by measure, or an actor scene by scene. Break the performance into its smallest controllable unit and execute that unit well.
5. Emotional regulation: don't let the moment take over
Emotional regulation in the face of adversity is central to overall performance and feeds directly into process focus. Staying regulated when it feels like the game is running away from you, and not letting the hype of the moment take over in either direction, creates the conditions for success. This is true when you are down 29 and it is also true when you tip in the game-winner with 1.2 seconds left. Anunoby's postgame comment on that moment is one of the best examples of emotional regulation I have seen from any athlete at any level.
Regulation is a team skill as much as an individual one. When the group is connected and trusts one another, individual regulation becomes easier. That is something we work on in team sport psychology settings: building the relational trust that makes collective regulation possible under pressure.
The mental skills on display in this Knicks run are not unique to professional athletes. Present-moment focus, self-efficacy, resilience, process orientation, and emotional regulation are trainable skills available to any athlete, performer, or competitor willing to work on them. If you are an athlete, a performer, or someone navigating high-stakes moments in your own life and want to build these skills, our team is here.
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