SAN ANTONIO — As if a 53-year wait wasn’t long enough, the New York Knicks needed to be the conqueror of comebacks before they could again be kings of the NBA.
Mission accomplished.
The Knickerbockers, residents of the world’s most famous arena, an original NBA franchise founded in 1946, named for the city’s Dutch settlers, are champions for the first time since 1973 and for just the third time in team history. They stunned the San Antonio Spurs, again, with another come-from-behind win in Game 5 of the 2026 NBA Finals, 94-90.
Jalen Brunson, the finals MVP and heart and soul of this team, carried an otherwise struggling Knicks offense in the clincher with 45 points. He scored 15 in the Knicks’ last, furious fourth-quarter comeback and averaged 32.6 points in the series.
“I put a lot of time and effort to be best player I can be for this team and organization,” Brunson said. “Tonight, we played like we wanted to go home as champions. Not to start but at the end.”
New York took down the Spurs, 4-1, winning all three games in San Antonio and setting an NBA Finals record by coming from 29 points down in the second half to win Game 4 with the OG Anunoby tip heard ’round the world. The Knicks’ only loss in the series was also historic, coming on a night when a sitting U.S. president, Donald J. Trump of New York, attended a finals game.
Their average margin of victory for the entire playoffs of 14.9 points is an NBA record. And yet, this series was a lot closer than 4-1. The Knicks outscored the Spurs by 12 points, tying the closest margin for a five-game series in finals history.
The Knicks mounted yet another comeback in Game 5. This one was smaller (16 points), but they nevertheless won a series in which they trailed by at least 10 points in the first quarter of every game. New York trailed by seven when the fourth quarter began and was down 10 before mounting one more rally for the ages.
“I couldn’t believe it. That was the first thing. It was surreal. I couldn’t believe that it was happening,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “I am so tired. I mean, I’m gassed. And you know, just this stuff is harder than what you think.”
The final four minutes were tense, with teams trading buckets and leads. Brunson’s 12-footer with 1:05 left gave the Knicks a 90-88 lead. Spurs rookie Dylan Harper, their best player on Saturday night with 25 points, missed a 3, and Josh Hart sank a foul shot with 26.1 seconds remaining. He missed the second, but Mitchell Robinson, on the court because Knicks star center Karl-Anthony Towns fouled out, saved the possession with a rebound. Anunoby, New York’s Game 4 hero, made one of two free throws also to put the Knicks up four
Wembanyama, the 22-year-old French sensation who is angling to be the next standard-bearer for the sport, has to wait on that. He finished with 19 points, 14 boards and five blocks. When his final 3-point try missed near the buzzer, the thousands of New York fans in the upper deck erupted in thunderous applause.
“It’s painful, but I’m not running away from that,” Wembanyama said. “I’m using to fuel me.”
During the trophy ceremony on the Spurs’ Frost Bank Center court, with probably all of the locals gone home to nurse their collective wounds, most of the upper arena remained stocked with Knicks fans. Thousands more moved their way into the first rows of seats, in a breathtaking visual of a fan base that would not be denied a chance to witness history after five decades of frustration.
“The weight of that jersey, the expectations, the pressure of that jersey,” Hart said. “And like I say, today, right now, it’s the lightest it’s ever felt.”
Fifty-three years is a long time for the Larry O’Brien trophy to travel the few blocks from NBA offices on Fifth Avenue back to the Garden on Eighth Avenue. Five-plus decades ago, a haze of smoke floated above the fans at the Garden. Willis Reed limped onto the floor for the 1970 title. Walter “Clyde” Frazier dominated. Red Holzman worked the sideline.
And then, more than five decades of waiting, was it nothing? There were the near-misses in 1994 and 1999. Names that will be a part of Knicks lore forever. Bernard King and Patrick Ewing and John Starks. Charles Oakley and Allan Houston and Jeremy Lin and Carmelo Anthony.
New York’s last appearance in a finals before this came in June 1999. James Dolan took over the Knicks that October when he was appointed chairman of Madison Square Garden. For more than 26 years, he fought with the NBA, with famous Knicks alumni and with fans who booed him. Even toward the end of this magical championship run, he
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