NEW YORK, June 14 (Our New York News) — The New York Knicks are NBA champions for the first time since 1973, closing out the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on June 14 to win the series 4-1, according to NBA game and series records.
The title is the third in franchise history, league historical records show. It also ends one of New York City’s longest-running sports waits: 53 years between Knicks championships.
The box score identified Jalen Brunson as the central figure in the clinching game. Brunson scored 45 points, the official Game 5 scoring record shows, accounting for nearly half of the Knicks’ offense in a four-point win on the Spurs’ home court in San Antonio.
The result also reversed a painful chapter in Knicks history. NBA Finals records show the Knicks’ previous Finals appearance came in 1999, when San Antonio beat New York 4-1. This time, the Knicks won by the same series margin.
The championship run was marked by late-series comebacks. In Game 4 at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks overcame a 29-point deficit, according to NBA game records cited in accounts of the Finals. In Game 5, the Knicks again came from a double-digit deficit before winning 94-90. The records reviewed for this article did not include the full official play-by-play needed to state the exact largest deficit in Game 5.
For New York City, the consequence was immediate. Fans gathered outside Madison Square Garden and elsewhere in the city after the final buzzer, according to on-scene accounts from major news organizations. No official crowd estimate, arrest count or injury total was included in the records reviewed for this article.
City government also moved to mark the title. The New York City mayor’s office announced a ticker-tape parade and City Hall ceremony for Thursday, according to reports based on the city’s announcement and Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s public post on X. Mamdani wrote, “HISTORY,” after the Knicks clinched the championship, according to Reuters-based coverage.
The public records and league records reviewed support the core finding: New York beat San Antonio 94-90 in Game 5, won the Finals 4-1, and secured its first NBA championship since 1973.
