NEW YORK, June 14 (Our New York News) — The New York Knicks are NBA champions for the first time since 1973.
NBA Finals records show the Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 on June 14, 2026, closing the best-of-seven series 4-1. The result gave New York its third NBA championship and ended a 53-year title drought for one of the league’s most watched local teams.
The box score gives the spine of the clinching game: Jalen Brunson scored 45 points, the high mark cited in game accounts based on the official NBA record. Game 5 was played in San Antonio, but the result immediately shifted the story back to New York City, where the franchise’s long wait had stretched across generations of fans.
The finding is supported by league competition records on three points: the Game 5 score, the 4-1 series result and Brunson’s 45-point performance. NBA historical records and the Knicks’ franchise title history establish the larger consequence: this was New York’s first championship since 1973 and the third in team history.
That record also gives the win its local weight. Before this series, the Knicks had not reached the NBA Finals since 1999, when they lost to San Antonio 4-1. In 2026, the matchup ended with the same series score but the opposite champion.
The title run also included one of the most important games in Knicks history. In Game 4 of the Finals, New York came back from a 29-point deficit, according to NBA game records cited in accounts of the series. Available materials reviewed for this article support the size of that deficit. They did not include a direct NBA historical table needed to independently verify the additional description, used in some accounts, that it was the largest comeback in Finals history.
Game 5 followed the same pattern of pressure. Accounts based on the official play-by-play describe the Knicks as rallying from a double-digit deficit before winning by four. One account put the deficit at 16 points, but the exact high-water mark was not asserted here because the official play-by-play was not included in the materials available for review.
For New York, the championship did more than close a series. It changed the franchise’s standing in the record book. The Knicks entered the night with two NBA titles, both from an earlier era. They left with a third, and with their first since the 1970s.
Celebrations broke out in New York City after the final buzzer, including gatherings outside Madison Square Garden, according to on-scene reporting by The Associated Press and other firsthand accounts. The available records did not include official crowd estimates, police totals, injury reports or arrest figures, so none are included here.
City government also moved to mark the championship. Mayor Zohran Mamdani wrote “HISTORY,” in a public post on X after the clinching win, according to Reuters-based coverage. The mayor and city officials also announced plans for a Thursday ticker-tape parade and a City Hall ceremony for the team. The materials reviewed did not include the full city announcement, route, start time or security plan.
The core record is clear: New York won Game 5, 94-90; won the Finals, 4-1; and ended the NBA’s official title drought for the Knicks at 53 years.
