No longer did Tyler Kolek hold the Most Outstanding Player award, as he did in March 2023 after Marquette men’s basketball clinched the Big East Championship title.
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No longer did he hold the Emirates NBA Cup trophy as he did in 2025.
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This year, on May 25, the New York Knicks guard most recently held something new in his hands: The Eastern Conference trophy.
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After sweeping both the Philadelphia Sixers and Cleveland Cavaliers, the Knicks are heading to the NBA Finals for the first time in 27 seasons. A piece of history the former Marquette guard gets to be a part of.
But reaching the finals wasn’t a surprise for Knicks owner James Dolan. He knew his team would make it.
“We want to get to the Finals,” Dolan said in a Jan. 5 interview on WFAN Sports Radio 101.9 FM. “This is sports, this is business and anything can happen, but getting to the Finals, we absolutely got to.”
Winning 53 games during the regular season, the Knicks continued their strong season into the playoffs with a historic 11-game winning streak — all won by double digits. With a playoff record of 11-2, the two losses were just by one point.
Players like Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson are at the root of the team’s success. Brunson was unanimously named the Eastern Conference Finals MVP after averaging 25.5 points and 7.8 assists per game against the Cavs.
The Eastern Conference Final game marked the Knicks’ 11th-consecutive game won. After outscoring playoff teams by a combined 262 points, New York now has the highest point differential over any 11-game stretch in NBA history.
Holding this title before was the 2024 Boston Celtics (+243), a team that has been a thorn in the Knicks’ side for years.
According to the NBA, the Knicks have an effective field goal percentage of 59.2%, a percentage that marks the best in NBA history. But these numbers don’t just appear because of offensive success.
New York is also 6-0 on the road during the playoff stretch.
After being selected 34th overall by the Portland Trail Blazers and then traded on draft night to the Knicks in the 2024 Draft, former Marquette star Kolek gets to be a part of it all.
Averaging 4.4 points, 1.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game throughout the regular season, Kolek has touched the floor in each round of the playoffs. In eight postseason games, he’s averaging shooting 44% from the field and 44.4% from beyond the arc.
Most recently, in the final game of the Eastern Conference, the kid from Cumberland, Rhode Island, played eight minutes, shooting 3-for-7 (42.9%) from the field and 2-for-3 (66.7%) from downtown.
“It’s cool to see him playing with aggressiveness when he gets in the game,” Marquette men’s basketball head coach Shaka Smart said.
Smart recalled how the coaching staff would have to “fight” Kolek to take the opportunity to shoot the ball more when he first started wearing the blue & gold. Smart specifically remembers a game against Villanova in Kolek’s first year at Marquette.
“They were going under his pick-and-rolls, he was wide open, he was catching the ball with no one guarding him and I was on him about shooting,” Smart said with a big grin on his face. “So finally he made two threes in a row, and he turned to me, and he said something that I can’t repeat right now, but it was a two-word statement and you can probably guess what it was.”
That aggression, seen from the minutes Kolek could have the chance to play, mixed with the efficiency of his seasoned teammates, could help the Knicks win a title for the first time since 1973.
“Winning the finals, we should win,” Dolan said.
It is unknown whether Dolan’s hopes become reality. It’s something only a best-of-seven series against the San Antonio Spurs will determine.
But one thing is for sure: both Knicks and Marquette fans alike will be hoping to see Kolek hold the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy in his hands.
This story was written by Raquel Ruiz. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @RaquelRuizMU.
