How to Win When Everyone Counts You Out
After 53 years of waiting, the New York Knicks are NBA champions — and Lish Speaks had something to say about it.
On this episode of I’ll Just Let Myself In, Lish breaks down five lessons she took away from watching the Knicks capture the 2026 title, connecting the team’s historic playoff run to the kind of perseverance, faith, and fight we all need in our everyday lives.
You can have a regular season and still become a champion. The Knicks had a solid but unspectacular regular season — good enough that the Atlanta Hawks deliberately maneuvered to face them instead of Cleveland. Atlanta thought New York was the easier matchup. They thought wrong. Lish reminds us that people will underestimate you in your “regular season,” when you’re quietly getting better without the flash. Let them. What matters is how you show up when it counts.
You can lose back to back and still be on track. New York dropped its first two playoff games and fans started to worry. Then the Knicks rattled off a 13-game winning streak — the longest in playoff history. Those early losses became fuel, not a final verdict. In your own life, a setback doesn’t have to set the tone for everything that follows.
No one can stop your God-given supporters. When Joel Embiid publicly begged Philly fans not to sell their tickets to Knicks fans — and Ticketmaster blocked New York zip codes from purchasing seats — Lish called it immediately: that’s a loser mentality. Philly got swept. Meanwhile, Knicks fans showed up in every arena across the country. As Lish puts it, there’s a host of angels around you, and no opponent can block the people God placed in your corner.
The numbers don’t lie. Opposing players and fans made every excuse in the book. James Harden claimed Philly was “analytically the better team.” The Spurs insisted they outplayed New York. Lish isn’t hearing any of it — you lost. Sometimes people will refuse to acknowledge your greatness no matter what you accomplish. That’s why you can’t live to prove doubters wrong. Do it because you love it, and do it for the people who love you.
Think the worst, then do something about it. Lish’s final lesson comes straight from Finals MVP Jalen Brunson, who told reporters: “You’re allowed to think of the worst possible scenario, but you got to go out there and do something about it.” Down 29 in a pivotal Game 4? The Knicks mounted the largest comeback in Finals history. Lish challenges listeners to take that same energy into their own lives — acknowledge when things aren’t going well, then get up and fight.
This episode is part celebration, part sermon, and all heart. Whether you bleed orange and blue or not, the 2026 Knicks proved that belief plus action is an unbeatable combination.
Catch new episodes of I’ll Just Let Myself In with Lish Speaks on Holy Culture Radio, SiriusXM Channel 140, Mondays at 8 PM EST, and on YouTube.
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