NEW YORK, June 14 (Our New York News) — The New York Knicks are NBA champions for the first time since 1973, a finding supported by the league’s championship result, Game 5 box score and Finals series record.
The decisive record is the NBA’s Game 5 result: New York 94, San Antonio 90, on June 14, 2026, in San Antonio. That result gave the Knicks a 4-1 win in the best-of-seven NBA Finals, according to the league’s series record. It also made this the third championship in Knicks franchise history, according to NBA historical records.
The title closes a 53-year gap between championships for one of the league’s most visible franchises. The Knicks’ previous championship came in 1973, according to NBA historical records. Their previous Finals appearance was in 1999, when they also faced the Spurs and lost the series 4-1.
The Game 5 box score shows Jalen Brunson led New York with 45 points in the clinching win. No other Knicks or Spurs player stat lines were provided in the records available for this report, so the documented scoring spine of the game begins with Brunson’s total and the final score.
The win also capped a Finals run marked by repeated rallies. In Game 4, NBA game records show the Knicks came back from a 29-point deficit at Madison Square Garden. Available NBA-based accounts identified that rally as the largest comeback in NBA Finals history, though the supplied record did not include a separate league historical table for independent review of that superlative.
In Game 5, New York again came from behind. The available record supports that the Knicks rallied from a double-digit deficit; one account put the margin at 16 points, but that exact number was not confirmed in the supplied official play-by-play or game book materials.
What is confirmed is the consequence: New York’s 94-90 win ended the series after five games and reversed the result of the franchise’s last Finals trip. In 1999, the Spurs beat the Knicks 4-1. In 2026, the Knicks beat the Spurs by the same series margin.
The championship immediately became a New York City event. The Associated Press and other on-scene accounts reported celebrations outside Madison Square Garden and elsewhere in the city after the final buzzer. The supplied record did not include official crowd counts, police totals, arrest numbers, injury reports or street-closure details, so those figures are not included here.
City government also moved to mark the win. The New York City mayor’s office announced a ticker-tape parade and City Hall ceremony for the Knicks on Thursday after the championship, according to accounts citing the city’s announcement. Mayor Zohran Mamdani also celebrated the win in a post on X described by Reuters-based coverage, writing, “HISTORY.”
For the Knicks, the records establish the core facts: a 94-90 Game 5 victory, a 4-1 Finals win over San Antonio, 45 points from Brunson in the clincher, the franchise’s third NBA title and its first championship in 53 years.
