NEW YORK, June 14 (Our New York News) — The New York Knicks are NBA champions for the first time in 53 years, beating the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on June 14, 2026, according to NBA game and series records.
The win closed the best-of-seven Finals 4-1 and gave the Knicks their third NBA championship, league historical records show. Their last title had come in 1973. Their most recent Finals appearance before this season was in 1999, when they lost to the Spurs in five games.
The box score from the clinching game gives the clearest record of how New York finished the series: Jalen Brunson scored 45 points, the top individual total confirmed in the materials reviewed. The Knicks held San Antonio to 90 points and won by four on the Spurs’ home court in San Antonio.
For New York, the result changes more than one line in the NBA record book. It ends one of the city’s longest-running championship waits and gives the franchise its first title of the modern Knicks era. The club had gone more than half a century between championships and 27 years between Finals appearances.
The series record also marks a reversal of the Knicks’ last Finals trip. In 1999, NBA Finals records show San Antonio beat New York 4-1. In 2026, the Knicks won by the same series margin against the same opponent.
The documented path to the title included one of the key swings of the series in Game 4 at Madison Square Garden. NBA game records and contemporaneous accounts show the Knicks overcame a 29-point deficit in that game. The Associated Press and other reports described it as the largest comeback in NBA Finals history, though the materials reviewed did not include a direct NBA historical table confirming that superlative.
Game 5 also included a Knicks rally. Multiple accounts based on the game record said New York came back from a double-digit deficit before winning 94-90. One report put the deficit at 16 points, but the available materials did not include the official play-by-play needed to independently state that exact figure.
The championship was followed by celebrations across New York City, including gatherings outside Madison Square Garden, according to on-scene accounts from The Associated Press, the BBC and other national and international reports. The materials reviewed did not include official crowd estimates, arrest totals, injury reports or street-closure records from city agencies.
City government also moved to mark the title. The mayor’s office announced a ticker-tape parade and City Hall ceremony for Thursday after the championship, according to reports citing the city announcement. Mayor Zohran Mamdani publicly celebrated the win on X, writing, “HISTORY,” Reuters reported.
The parade planning places the city directly into the aftermath of the title, but the available announcement did not include the full route, start time or detailed security plan in the materials reviewed.
What is established by the records is narrower and clear: the Knicks beat the Spurs 94-90 in Game 5, won the Finals 4-1, and secured the franchise’s third NBA championship. Brunson’s 45 points led the clinching win, and New York’s 53-year wait since 1973 is over.
