The New York Knicks are champions again. Jalen Brunson scored 45 points, 15 of them in the fourth quarter, as New York closed out the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 on June 13 to win the NBA Finals four games to one and claim the franchise's first title since 1973.
Brunson was named Finals MVP after a series in which he averaged 32.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists, capping a playoff run in which he led all scorers with 539 points. His father, assistant coach Rick Brunson, embraced him on the floor as the final buzzer sounded.
The Series That Almost Broke New York
The Knicks fell behind by 29 points in Game 4 on June 10 before staging the largest comeback in Finals history to win 107-106, a pivot point that shifted the series permanently. San Antonio, led by Victor Wembanyama, had taken Game 3 at Madison Square Garden and briefly looked capable of extending the matchup.
A Team for the History Books
The Knicks-Spurs Finals averaged more than 20 million viewers on ABC and ESPN, the most-watched Finals since 1998, capping the most-watched NBA postseason in nearly three decades. Brunson, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart also became the first trio of teammates to win both an NCAA title and an NBA championship.
For a franchise that had not lifted a banner in 53 years, the parade through lower Manhattan drew hundreds of thousands, and a city that had waited two generations finally exhaled.
