NBA 2026 Champion: Knicks come back from 16 down to beat the Spurs and win their first NBA championship since 1973.
NBA 2026 Champion: The Knicks took the series 4-1 after being down in double figures in all four of their wins. It’s been 53 years, but New York reigns supreme once again. Brunson scored 45 points, which included a 13-0 run in the fourth quarter, and the Knicks defeated the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Saturday night.
The Knicks took the series 4-1 after being down in double figures in all four of their wins. They were down 16 on Saturday night and never once looked flustered. I got no words right now,” Brunson said as he celebrated with the crowd. “It’s just a dream that I have.
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Appropriately enough, Brunson finished with flair: he now owns the Knicks record for points in a Finals game (Willis Reed held the record at 38 against the Lakers in Game 3 of the 1970 NBA Finals) as he delivered a masterpiece with the ball from the left side of the court that changed the franchise’s fortunes upon arrival four years ago.
Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart – Brunson is the third part of the “Nova Knicks” who all three won NCAA championship games while playing on Villanova and are playing together again with New York hoping to repeat what they accomplished then-finished with 27 points in all (14 for Bridges, 13 for Hart).
New York managed to trim the deficit to three points thanks to a 22-9 burst in the second quarter, but Devin Vassell threw in a last second bucket as time expired to give San Antonio a 42-37 lead at halftime.
And that summed up the first 24 minutes, which were either a display of either terrible offense or great defense. With 79 total points scored between the two teams in the first half it was the lowest scoring first half in a Finals game since Game 7 between the Lakers and Celtics in 2010 and both teams were shooting 31.8% combined, the lowest combined shooting percentage at halftime in any finals game in the play-by-play era.
Brunson brought two national titles to Villanova in two championship games that were played in Texas – 2016 in Houston, and 2018 in San Antonio, just a stone’s throw from the Spurs’ arena.
A three step Texas title streak, and surely this has to be sweet as can be.
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