For 53 years, the Knicks had history.
On Saturday night, Jalen Brunson gave them the present.
The wait ended at Frost Bank Center, where the Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs, 94-90, in Game 5 of the NBA Finals and won their first championship since 1973. It ended with Brunson at the center of everything, with Knicks fans roaring in San Antonio and with a franchise once buried under old punchlines leaving Texas with the trophy every generation before this one had chased.
Finally, the Knicks are champions again.
For the Knicks, this wasn’t just one season ending. It was the end of 2005-10 without a playoff berth, another empty run from 2014-20, then 2022, too. False starts. Old rosters. Bad jokes. Nights when Madison Square Garden felt like a Manhattan museum.
Then this team arrived, stitched together almost entirely from somewhere else. The Knicks didn’t draft Brunson, OG Anunoby, Karl-Anthony Towns, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, Landry Shamet, Jose Alvarado or Jordan Clarkson. They signed, traded, and trusted until they built a monster in a different way.
Brunson gave it life, finishing with 45 points, the most by any Knick in an NBA Finals game, and dragged them through one of their ugliest offensive nights of the postseason. He shot 14-for-27 from the field, made four 3-pointers and went 13-for-15 at the line. He scored 15 in the fourth quarter and 29 after halftime.
The Knicks scored 13 points in the first quarter. They shot 4-for-22 from the field. They had zero points in the paint. They trailed by 16 in the first half and still had only 37 points by halftime. Victor Wembanyama protected the rim, San Antonio’s defense crowded every touch and the Spurs spent most of the night making the Knicks look stuck between patience and panic.
Brunson had eight of their 13 points in the first quarter, 16 at halftime and 30 through three quarters, with the Knicks still down seven and the championship still feeling far from certain.
“It took everything,” Brunson said. “I was just trying to go out there, just will us to win.”
With the Knicks trailing late, Brunson scored 10 straight points to tie the game at 83 with 4:48 left. A few possessions later, he made three free throws to give the Knicks their first lead since the opening minutes. Dylan Harper, sensational all night as a rookie, tied it with a turnaround. Brunson answered with a floater to put the Knicks back ahead.
The Knicks still needed Hart’s 13 points and 11 rebounds, Bridges’ 14 points, Anunoby’s 11 points, eight rebounds and three steals, and Mitchell Robinson’s 10 rebounds, including the offensive board after Hart missed a free throw in the final seconds.
“I trust my guys they’re going to make it,” Robinson said, “but I’m just going to crash anyway.”
That was the Knicks in one sentence. They finished the postseason 16-3, becoming the third champion to win 16 games with three or fewer losses. Their plus-283 point differential was the best in NBA playoff history. They won more road playoff games than any team ever had, ripped off 13 straight wins and closed every series away from home: by 51 against the Atlanta Hawks, by 30 against the Philadelphia 76ers, by 37 against the Cleveland Cavaliers and by four against San Antonio.
Road dogs. Champs. It’s not how you start. It’s how you finish.
The Knicks also won the Finals the hard way. Per Elias, they led for only 23.6% of the series, the lowest share by a champion since 1971. They ended the Finals with four comeback wins.
That’s why Hart’s words felt bigger than one moment. He talked about the “weight of that jersey” and everything New York believes it should stand for.
“Today, right now, it’s the lightest it’s ever felt,” Hart said.
Around New York, 53 years spilled into the streets. Fans flooded the area near the Garden, where NYPD officers in riot gear moved in to disperse large crowds. At Radio City Music Hall, James Dolan was booed at the watch party, then apologized for mismanaging the Knicks for two decades and heard cheers come back at him.
Apology accepted.
In San Antonio, Brown called Brunson “a freaking 1A” and said “he is him” when it comes to New York basketball. Anunoby called it special to do this for a city that had waited more than half a century. Bridges said the Knicks simply follow Brunson. Towns said Brunson had been handed the keys to the city and opened the door for everyone who joined him.
After the buzzer, Brunson walked to halfcourt, shook Mitch Johnson’s hand, turned around and saw his father. Then Hart was in his ear.
“We did it! We did it!” Hart told him, according to Brunson.
Soon after, Brunson was asked what he would say now to people who said he wasn’t a 1A player.
“I didn’t respond to them then,” Brunson said, “and I’m damn sure not going to respond to them now.”
