Jalen Brunson and the Comeback Knicks did it again. And now they’re the Champion Knicks.
For the first time in 53 years, New York rules the NBA. Brunson scored 45 points, including 13 straight for New York in the fourth quarter, and the Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Saturday night.
The Knicks won the series 4-1, rallying from double-digit deficits in all four of those victories. The deficit was 16 on Saturday night. Brunson and the Knicks were never fazed.
Brunson, fittingly, closed with a flourish. He set a Knicks record for points in a finals game; it had been 38 by Willis Reed against the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3 of the 1970 series. It now belongs to the left-handed point guard who changed the franchise’s fortunes when he arrived four years ago.
Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart — the other two parts of the “Nova Knicks” trio that also includes Brunson, three players who were NCAA champions at Villanova and teamed up in New York to try to do the same — combined to score 27 points. Bridges had 14, Hart 13.
Brunson won NCAA crowns twice with Villanova — both in Texas, the 2016 one in Houston and the 2018 one in San Antonio, just a few miles away from the arena that the Spurs call home.
A Texas three-step of titles, and this one was surely the sweetest of all.
Dylan Harper scored 25 for the Spurs, who got 19 points, 14 rebounds and five blocked shots from Victor Wembanyama.
The Knicks improved to 4-0 in closeout opportunities this season, winning them all on the road. It didn’t feel like the road, though — not with thousands of New York faithful having made the trip to Texas to see a moment 53 years in the making.
New York got to the brink of this title by rallying from 29 points down in Game 4 to win 107-106 on OG Anunoby’s tip-in with 1.2 seconds left on Wednesday night. It was the largest comeback in NBA Finals history and the biggest comeback in any game this season, regular season or playoffs.
Mayor Mamdani Announces Ticker-Tape Parade and City Hall Ceremony to Celebrate Knicks Championship
After the New York Knicks clinched the National Basketball Association (NBA) Championship, Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani announced that New York City will host a ticker-tape parade and City Hall ceremony honoring the team and awarding Keys to the City on Thursday, June 18.
The celebration will mark the first ticker-tape parade in Knicks history and honor a team that delivered an NBA championship to a city that has waited generations for this moment.
Additional details — including parade logistics, ceremony information and media RSVP instructions — will be released tomorrow, Sunday, June 14.
“For more than 50 years, New Yorkers have waited for this moment. Through near misses, heartbreak and a hope that every year could be our year, this city never stopped believing in the Knicks. And this team fulfilled that hope with grit, resilience and heart — just like the five boroughs itself,” said Mayor Mamdani. “New Yorkers have cheered for our team from packed living rooms in the Bronx to watch parties in Brooklyn, from bars in Queens to Staten Island to Manhattan, and Madison Square Garden itself. Now it’s time for our city to celebrate together. Bing bong.”
Mayor Mamdani also announced that City Hall and municipal buildings across the city will be illuminated in blue and orange on Thursday, June 18 to celebrate the victory.
In addition to City Hall, the following City buildings will also be illuminated in blue and orange on the night of Thursday, June 18 in honor of the New York Knicks:
• The David N. Dinkins Manhattan Municipal Building:
1 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007
• Brooklyn Borough Hall:
209 Joralemon Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
Source: NYC.gov