Knicks are champions again as Jalen Brunson's 45 points help end 53-year wait

C.J. Holmes, New York Daily News on Jun 13, 2026

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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, the way this era of Knicks basketball has so often demanded, and with the franchise finally reaching the place generations of fans had only heard about, hoped for or inherited as a story from someone older.

The Knicks are champions again.

Brunson finished 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.

None of it was supposed to be.

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 kept them alive anyway. He had eight of the Knicks’ 13 points in the first quarter. He had 16 at halftime, when the rest of the Knicks’ offense was searching for anything consistent. He had 30 through three quarters, with the Knicks still down seven and the championship still feeling far from a sure thing.

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 walked to the free-throw line and made all three to give the Knicks their first lead since the opening minutes, 86-85, with 3:40 remaining. By then, he had 43 points and a franchise Finals record. By then, the night was his.

But San Antonio didn’t just fold. Dylan Harper, sensational all night as a rookie, tied the game at 88 with a turnaround jumper. Brunson answered with a floater to put the Knicks back ahead, 90-88. It was the last great response in a night filled with Spurs resistance.

Harper finished with 25 points. Wembanyama had 19 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks. Julian Champagnie added 14 points, and Devin Vassell scored 12. San Antonio gave the Knicks everything it had left, from the huge “Believe” display inside the arena to Stephon Castle’s put-back slam off a missed Wembanyama 3 that cut the Knicks’ lead to two with 16.3 seconds left.

The Knicks still had Brunson. They also had just enough of everybody else.

Josh Hart finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Mikal Bridges added 14 points. OG Anunoby had 11 points, eight rebounds and three steals. Mitchell Robinson scored only two points but grabbed 10 rebounds, including the late offensive board after Hart missed a free throw that helped the Knicks bleed more time from the clock.

It was tense late, as it’s been all series. Bridges missed one free throw, made the next and gave the Knicks a three-point lead. Harper missed at the line with 8.5 seconds left, and Anunoby grabbed the rebound. Anunoby missed his first, made his second and put the Knicks ahead by four with 7.7 seconds left.

Wembanyama missed one final 3 with two seconds remaining. Anunoby secured the rebound. The rest was no longer basketball. It was release.

Knicks fans had traveled to San Antonio and made themselves part of the night from the beginning. They booed Spurs starters during introductions. They cheered every Brunson bucket. They watched the Knicks survive the worst stretches of offense, foul trouble for Karl-Anthony Towns and one more fourth quarter that threatened to become another test of their resolve.

Towns, limited to two points and 10 rebounds while battling foul trouble, will still leave Texas as a champion. So will Hart, Bridges, Anunoby, Robinson and head coach Mike Brown, whose first season in New York ended with the joy he said he wanted to bring back to the city.

But this title will always run through Brunson. He didn’t just lead the Knicks to a championship. He carried them across the longest wait in franchise history, through a night when almost nothing came easily, then stood tall enough for New York to see 1973 finally disappear behind it.

The Knicks spent 53 years chasing the past.

Brunson made sure they left San Antonio with forever.