The last time the New York Knicks won the NBA championship, Richard Nixon was in the White House. That was 1973. Fifty-three years later, on a warm Saturday night in San Antonio, the Knicks are 2026 NBA champions again.
Jalen Brunson scored 45 points, the most by any Knick in a Finals game, as New York beat the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5. The Knicks win the series 4-1. The wait is over. Brunson is the Finals MVP.
What Happened
The Knicks trailed by 16 points at one stage in Game 5. It would have felt familiar to anyone watching. In Game 4, they came back from 29 down — the largest comeback in NBA Finals history. New York faithful in the building had learned to breathe through the nerves.
Brunson kept them steady. He scored in waves: 14-of-27 from the field, four-of-seven from three, 13 of his 15 free throws. With 65 seconds left and the game on the line, he hit a go-ahead floater to put the Knicks ahead for good. The Spurs could not answer.
Victor Wembanyama gave San Antonio everything. Eighteen points and 14 rebounds from a 22-year-old in just his third NBA season. The Spurs’ future is not in doubt. Tonight, though, they were on the wrong side of a 94-90 final.
Karl-Anthony Towns had a difficult evening: six points on one-of-seven shooting, 10 rebounds. The Knicks did not need him to lead. Not with Brunson in this form.
What It Means
Brunson is the 2026 Finals MVP. His 45 points are a Knicks Finals record. He has been the standout player of these playoffs: a scorer, a creator, a closer.
For New York, the weight of 53 years comes off. This is a city that remembers every near-miss. Patrick Ewing in the 1990s. The heartbreaks that followed. Season after season after season. Brunson made it end.
For the Spurs and Wembanyama, this series hurts, but reaching the Finals with a player of that calibre, aged 22, is a foundation rather than a ceiling. They pushed a Knicks team that erased 29 points in Game 4 all the way to Game 5. The rebuilding is already done.
Looking Ahead
The Knicks will hold their championship parade in New York. Their off-season focus will be building on what Brunson has started, with a genuine championship window now established.
For the Spurs, the summer begins with Wembanyama at the centre of everything. He averaged 27.8 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.3 blocks per game through this Finals run. That is not a consolation. That is the start of something.
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