Why Draymond Green isn't glad Knicks couldn't break Warriors' playoff win streak originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
With their 115-111 loss to the San Antonio Spurs Monday in Game 3 of the 2026 NBA Finals, the New York Knicks fell short of breaking the Warriors’ record-setting playoff win streak in 2017.
Golden State holds the longest single playoff win streak of 15 consecutive victories during its dominant championship run in 2017. Needing only two more victories to complete a sweep against the Spurs, the Knicks failed to tie the Warriors’ record as their streak ended at 13 consecutive wins.
Warriors star Draymond Green, who was an integral part of that 2017 title run, expressed that he would not have minded if New York tied Golden State for the longest playoff win streak in NBA history.
“I think records are made to be broken,” Green said on Yahoo! Sports’ “The Kevin O’Connor Show.”
“I thought it was fun watching them go on this run. I don’t think anyone expected that type of run when we were watching this team play against the Atlanta Hawks. We obviously expected them to figure it out and win that series, and even make a deep playoff run.
“But I don’t know if [any] of us thought they’d be sitting on June 9th saying, man, this is the first time they’ve lost since April 23rd. So, I give those guys a lot of credit. It’s been really fun to watch, but I try not to get off into like, ‘Oh man, I don’t want those guys to break our record.’ I don’t want to be one of the old, bitter guys.”
In 2017, the Warriors breezed through their playoff competition, sweeping the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round, the Utah Jazz in the Western Conference semifinals and the Spurs in the Western Conference finals.
Golden State then won the first three games of the NBA Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers, but failed to complete a full sweep after losing Game 4. The Warriors were victorious in Game 5, however, to win their second NBA championship in three years.
After falling 2-1 in their first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks during the 2026 playoffs, the Knicks won the next three games to advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals, in which they swept the No. 7 seed Philadelphia 76ers.
New York then swept the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals and won the first two games of the NBA Finals against San Antonio before losing in Game 3, stopping its playoff win streak at 13.
Considering the 2017 Warriors’ stacked roster and dominance, it would be a challenging feat to tie or even break their 15-win playoff streak. Thus, that group that featured superstars Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala and Green in their prime always will be in the conversation for one of the best teams in NBA history.
