After 53 years, the wait is over. The New York Knicks are NBA champions.
The Knicks closed out the San Antonio Spurs with a 94-90 win in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, clinching the series 4-1 and winning their first title since 1973. It was not clean, it was not easy, and it was definitely not calm. But that was exactly the point. This Knicks team did not win a championship by making life simple. It won one by turning every game into a street fight, falling behind, refusing to panic, and somehow finding the last punch.
Game 5 followed the script of the entire series. San Antonio had control. The Spurs led by double digits, Victor Wembanyama was protecting the rim, and for long stretches it looked like the Finals were headed back to New York. But then came Jalen Brunson, again. The Knicks’ captain delivered 45 points, the most by a Knicks player in an NBA Finals game, and carried New York through another comeback win. He was named Finals MVP after the game, the only realistic ending to a postseason that became his masterpiece.
Brunson’s biggest bucket came late, a go-ahead floater with 65 seconds remaining that felt like it had been floating through New York basketball history since 1973. Karl-Anthony Towns fouled out in the final minutes, OG Anunoby was held to 11 points, and the Knicks still found a way. That was the beauty of this team. It never looked perfect. It just kept surviving.
The Spurs had chances. Wembanyama finished with 19 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks, while rookie Dylan Harper gave San Antonio 25 points off the bench. The future in San Antonio is enormous, terrifying and probably arriving faster than the rest of the league wants. But the present belonged to New York. The Spurs spent much of the series building leads. The Knicks spent the series stealing souls.
The Knicks came back from double-digit deficits in all four of their Finals wins, including the historic 29-point miracle in Game 4 at Madison Square Garden.
For New York, this is not just a championship. It is a civic event. It is 1973 finally getting a sequel. It is Madison Square Garden, Villanova memories, orange-and-blue streets, Spike Lee disbelief, and an entire city exhaling at once.
The Knicks are not waiting anymore.
They are champions.
The NEW YORK KNICKS receive the Larry O’Brien Trophy as 2026 NBA Champions! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/XAe4RuiD6r
— NBA (@NBA) June 14, 2026
