The New York Knicks Were Stonecutters Last Night

Last night, the New York Knicks delivered one of the greatest comebacks in sports history and the single greatest comeback in NBA Finals history. 

Down by 29 points, most teams would have folded. Most fans would have headed for the exits. Most announcers and color commentators would have declared the game over. 

Yet, the Knicks did something remarkable. They ignored the scoreboard. They ignored the magnitude of the deficit. They ignored the fact that they were down by nearly 30 points and instead focused on the only thing they could control: the next possession. A basket here. A defensive stop there. A free throw. A rebound. A three-pointer. One play at a time. One possession at a time. 

One point, two points, or three points at a time. 

Eventually, possession after possession, they climbed all the way back and won the game by a single point on a last-second tip-in.

As I watched the comeback unfold, I couldn’t help but think about the Stonecutter’s Creed.

The correlation between sports and the Stonecutter’s Creed is actually much deeper than most people realize because almost every meaningful accomplishment in sports is the result of accumulated small successes rather than one dramatic moment.

The Stonecutter’s Creed teaches us that the rock does not split because of the 100th blow. It splits because of all 100 blows. The final strike gets the credit, but every strike before it made the final strike possible.

Sports work exactly the same way. A baseball team does not overcome a five-run deficit with one swing. Even a grand slam produces only four runs. To come back, they need a walk, a single, a stolen base, a sacrifice fly, another hit, another run. Incremental progress.

A football team trailing by 21 points cannot score 21 points on one play. They need a drive. Then a defensive stop. Then another drive. Then another stop. Momentum is simply the accumulation of small victories.

A hockey team down three goals cannot erase the deficit instantly. They need one goal. Then another. Then another. The scoreboard changes gradually, but each small success creates belief.

Basketball may be the purest example because the maximum value of a single possession is generally only three points with the rare exception of the four-point play, when a player gets fouled while making a three-pointer. If a team is down 29 points, as the Knicks were, there is literally no play in the rulebook that can erase the deficit. The only path back is possession after possession after possession.

Think about the math. Down 29 points, a team does not need to score 29 points all at once. They need to cut the lead to 27. Then 24. Then 22. Then 18. Then 14. Then 10. Then 6. Then 3.

The comeback is not really 29 points. It is a series of much smaller victories.

That is why great coaches constantly preach things like: Win the next possession. Win the quarter. Get one stop. Get one first down. Put the puck on net. Have a quality at-bat.

They understand that focusing on the entire mountain can be overwhelming. Focusing on the next step is manageable. The same principle applies in business.

A broker does not go from zero relationships to becoming the market leader overnight. It happens through thousands of calls, thousands of meetings, thousands of follow-ups. I have been lucky enough to have sold 2,406 buildings. Nobody sells 2,406 buildings in a year. Nobody sells 2,406 buildings in a decade. It happened one building at a time. One exclusive at a time. One owner relationship at a time.

People often see the final result and assume there was some magical breakthrough moment. There rarely is. The breakthrough is usually invisible. It is the accumulation of hundreds or thousands of seemingly insignificant actions. 

That is why I have always loved the Stonecutter’s Creed. It teaches patience. It teaches persistence. Most importantly, it teaches causality.

The 100th blow matters. But the first 99 matter, too. And, in some ways, the 99 are more important than the 100th. 

Sports provide visible examples of this principle because the scoreboard allows us to watch the process unfold in real time. The Knicks’ comeback was not created by the last-second shot. That shot merely completed the comeback. The comeback itself was built through dozens of possessions before that shot was ever taken.

The game-winning basket gets remembered. The defensive stop six minutes earlier is forgotten. The offensive rebound four minutes earlier is forgotten. The free throws three minutes earlier are forgotten. The hustle play, the loose ball, the extra pass, the contested rebound — all forgotten.

Yet, without every one of those moments, the final shot never happens. That is the Stonecutter’s Creed. People celebrate the crack in the rock. The stonecutter understands that the real story was every swing of the hammer that came before it.

The Knicks simply gave us a beautiful reminder of that lesson. Every great comeback in sports, every championship, every record, every Hall of Fame career, and every great business success is built exactly the same way: One swing of the hammer at a time. One possession at a time. One day at a time.

Pound the rock. Eventually, it breaks.

Robert Knakal is founder, chairman and CEO of BK Real Estate Advisors.