Knicks rally past Spurs for first NBA title in 53 years
The New York Knicks defeated the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 on Saturday, winning the NBA Finals 4-1 and securing their third title, a first in over half a century.
Knicks seal series 4-1
The Knicks pulled off another comeback to win Game 5 after trailing by 16 points. They had erased a 29-point deficit in Game 4 three days earlier. New York tied the game with just over three minutes left and then took the lead to close out the series. The Finals ended with a 4-1 margin, adding this championship to the ones the franchise won in 1970 and 1973.
Brunson's Finals MVP performance
Jalen Brunson scored 45 points and was named Finals MVP.
Mikal Bridges added 14 points, Josh Hart recorded 13 points and 11 rebounds, and OG Anunoby chipped in 11. Brunson, the son of former Knick Rick Brunson, was drafted 33rd in 2018.The superstar point guard refused to let the chance to eliminate the Spurs slip away.
- Jalen Brunson
- 45
- Dylan Harper
- 25
- Victor Wembanyama
- 19
- Mikal Bridges
- 14
- Josh Hart
- 13
- OG Anunoby
- 11
Wembanyama's exhaustion
Victor Wembanyama, the 22-year-old French center for the Spurs, finished Game 5 with 19 points and 14 rebounds but only three points in the fourth quarter. San Antonio's Dylan Harper led the team with 25 points.
He only made two of eight shots in the fourth quarter of Game 4, a game in which he played 44 minutes. It's too late in the season to complain, and the stakes are too high for Wembanyama to dwell on it, but he is exhausted.
A 53-year wait ends
The Knicks had not won an NBA championship since 1973. Coach Mike Brown, a former Spurs assistant under Gregg Popovich in 1999, guided the team to the title in his first season. Fans in Manhattan celebrated a night the franchise had waited over five decades to see.
