NEW YORK, June 14 (Our New York News) — The New York Knicks are NBA champions for the first time since 1973, a finding established by NBA game and series records: New York beat the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 on June 14 in Game 5 of the 2026 NBA Finals and won the best-of-seven series 4-1.
The league box score shows Jalen Brunson led the clinching win with 45 points. That number is the center of the Game 5 record available from the supplied material, which did not include full team shooting totals, quarter-by-quarter scoring, rebounds, assists or complete Spurs leaders.
The result changes the Knicks’ place in league history. NBA historical records list the 2026 title as the franchise’s third championship and its first in 53 years. The Knicks’ previous title came in 1973. Their most recent Finals appearance before this season was in 1999, when NBA Finals records show they lost to the Spurs 4-1.
The clinching game was played on San Antonio’s home court, but the consequence landed in New York City. The Knicks returned the title to a fan base that had gone more than five decades without one, and they did it by closing the Finals in five games against the same franchise that ended their last Finals run.
The Finals record also shows why the series will be remembered for more than the final score. In Game 4 at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks overcame a 29-point deficit, according to NBA game records cited in coverage of the series. Supplied reports described that rally as the largest comeback in NBA Finals history, but the underlying league historical comparison was not provided in the research file, so that superlative is not stated here as an independently verified record.
Game 5 added another comeback to the file. Accounts based on the game record described the Knicks as rallying from a double-digit deficit before winning 94-90. One account put the deficit at 16 points, but the official play-by-play was not included in the supplied material, so the exact figure is not asserted here.
In New York City, celebrations followed the final buzzer. On-scene reporting by The Associated Press and the BBC documented gatherings outside Madison Square Garden and elsewhere in the city after the Knicks clinched the title. The supplied records did not include official crowd estimates, police arrest totals, injury reports or street-closure details.
City government also moved to mark the championship. The New York City mayor’s office announced plans for a ticker-tape parade and a City Hall ceremony on Thursday after the win, according to public statements cited in the supplied reports. Mayor Zohran Mamdani also posted “HISTORY” on X after the championship-clinching victory, according to Reuters-based coverage.
The documented result is clear: Knicks 94, Spurs 90; New York wins the series 4-1; Brunson scores 45; and the franchise’s 53-year championship drought ends with its third NBA title.
