What agents can learn from the Knicks title game

A championship built on missed shots and second chances is the clearest reminder of what actually wins in real estate.

On Saturday evening in San Antonio, the New York Knicks won the NBA championship for the first time since 1973. Fifty-three years. They closed the series from four games to one with a 94–90 win. And here’s the part that’s worth your attention, whether you follow basketball or not: They didn’t win pretty.

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I don’t follow the game closely, and neither do many agents reading this. Stay with me, because the way the Knicks won is one of the greatest lessons in perseverance and teamwork I’ve seen, and every part of it fits your business.

Start with the ugly truth of that last game. As a team, the Knicks missed nearly two of every three shots they took. They earned about a third. They fell behind by 10 in the first quarter and trailed in the final stretch. If you turned on the television at halftime, you would have sworn you were watching a team about to lose.

Then they won after all.

Stick with that, because this is the truest thing about building a real estate business. You’ll have weeks, months, whole quarters where the shot doesn’t fall. The entry goes cold. The buyer is haunted. The deal collapsed during a review by a lawyer.

And the same voice that doubted the Knicks at halftime starts talking to you: This isn’t working, you’re not good enough, sit down. The champions heard it too and they hoisted the trophy anyway.

Here’s how they did it, because each player who pulled it off is a different agent in your office, and a different version of you on different days.

The 45 points that everyone will remember

The name in every headline is Jalen Brunson. On a night when almost no one could score, the Knicks’ leader scored 45 points himself, almost double a strong night for a star and almost half of his team’s total.

There will be days when that’s you: the cop on fire, closing everything you touch as the office collapses. If so, be Brunson. Take the photos. Carry the burden.

But Brunson’s 45 isn’t the reason the Knicks won.

The work that doesn’t reach the high points

A quick basketball primer, because this is the whole point. Every time a player misses, the loose ball is up for grabs, which is called a rebound. Whoever grabs the rebound gives his team another chance to score. A miss is not the end of the play.

Two Knicks have made it their whole work. Josh Hart and Mitchell Robinson refused to let a single miss end a possession. Robinson scored just two points all night, but grabbed 10 rebounds, six off his own team’s misses. Hart added 13 points and 11 rebounds.

New York defeated San Antonio 66 to 59, and those extra chances are the real reason they won. Not the scoring. The relentless, unglamorous work of chasing every miss.

You live this. The missed shot is your unanswered call. The loose ball is the follow-up that no one else in your market is making. The second chance is the third phone call, the handwritten note, the door you knock on after everyone else has gone home.

None of it is celebrated at the awards banquet, and it all turns a bad week into a done deal. Prospecting is on the rise. Follow-up is increasing.

The star who couldn’t buy a basket

This is the moment I love the most, and it has nothing to do with playing well. Karl-Anthony Towns, one of the Knicks’ biggest stars, made one shot of seven and finished with two points on the biggest night of his career. On paper, forgettable.

But Towns didn’t sulk or settle. He grabbed 10 rebounds and added three steals, doing the dirty work while his scoring disappeared. He couldn’t contribute the way he wanted to, so he contributed the way he could. And his team won the title.

That’s your slow piece. When the mentions stop coming, don’t give up and disappear. You notice that the work is still available: more phone calls, more follow-up, more open days. The contribution you make on a day off is still a contribution and still helps win the year.

The defense that no one cheers for

Another name: OG Anunoby. He scored 11, but his real job was defense, with eight rebounds and three steals, stripping the ball away before San Antonio could even shoot.

Titles go to teams that protect what they have as fiercely as they pursue what they want. In your business, that means staying on top of a transaction so it survives inspection, and the check-in that turns a previous customer into a referral. No one is throwing a party for the deal that didn’t go bad, but protecting your business is just as valuable as growing it.

Up early, won late

The Knicks stayed behind for most of the night and didn’t panic. Early is January, a slow start when the numbers aren’t there and doubt creeps in. Winners don’t fold when they’re behind because the score in the first quarter isn’t the most important thing.

Then, in the final quarter, New York defeated San Antonio 29 to 18 to take the title. They won in the end when it counted. That’s the lock. It is the fourth quarter of your year where the goal is actually determined.

How you start does not determine the outcome. How you finish does.

Say it out loud

Include this in your week. Say it out loud, because the words we say out loud are the words we begin to believe.

• “I don’t have to play perfect. I just have to play until the final buzzer.”
• “My misses don’t define me. My next shot does.”
• “If my shot doesn’t fall, I’ll go for the second chance.”

The Knicks waited 53 years and won it all on a night when they could barely make a basket because one player carried them, two chased every miss, a struggling star still did the dirty work and no one panicked when they were behind. Each of these players is you, some days, in your company.

The big ending is the part everyone remembers. The sequel that no one sees is the part that actually wins. Outside the night, on the stage. Slow month, on the phones.

Grab your second chance now.