Knicks win first NBA title in 53 years, beating Spurs 94-90

Jalen Brunson scored 45 points to lead the New York Knicks to their first NBA title in 53 years, a 94-90 win over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Saturday night at Frost Bank Center.

The Knicks trailed by seven entering the fourth quarter before Brunson, the finals MVP, scored 13 straight points. He set a Knicks record for points in a finals game, surpassing the 38 Willis Reed scored against the Los Angeles Lakers in 1970.

"I have no words," Brunson said during the on-court celebration. "It's everything I ever dreamed of."

Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart combined for 27 points. Bridges had 14 and Hart 13. The three players, all former Villanova NCAA champions, are known as the "Nova Knicks."

"It's surreal," Knicks coach Mike Brown said. Brown was hired a year ago and is the franchise's 24th coach since the 1973 title.

Brunson won two NCAA titles with Villanova in Texas, in Houston in 2016 and in San Antonio in 2018. "It's why I came to New York," he said.

The win gives the New York City area its first major professional championship in the big four North American leagues since the New York Giants won Super Bowl XLVI after the 2011 season. It is the Knicks' third title, following 1970 and 1973.

The Knicks rallied from double-digit deficits in each of their four series wins. They trailed by as many as 16 in Game 5. They improved to 4-0 in closeout games this season, all on the road.

Dylan Harper led the Spurs with 25 points. Victor Wembanyama had 19 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks.

"This is the biggest lesson of my life, the biggest learning moment," Wembanyama said. "I can't tell exactly what the lesson is, but we're learning."

The Spurs are now 5-2 all-time in the NBA Finals, last winning in 2014.

"We weren't ready to win an NBA championship," Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. "The better team won. We did a lot of good things, and we didn't finish the job. That's what it is."

Game 5 followed the pattern of the series. The Spurs took a double-digit lead in the first quarter before the Knicks closed the gap. The Spurs became the first team in the play-by-play era, which began in the 1996-97 season, to lead five finals games by 10 or more points in first quarters.

The Knicks missed 16 of their first 18 shots and all of their first 11 two-point attempts. At one point in the second quarter, Wembanyama had more blocks, five, than the Knicks had made shots, four. San Antonio led by as many as 16 in the second quarter.

A 22-9 run in the second quarter brought New York within three before Devin Vassell scored just before halftime to give the Spurs a 42-37 lead.

The 79 combined points in the first half were the fewest in a finals game since Game 7 of the 2010 Lakers-Celtics series. The teams combined to shoot 31.8 percent in the half, the lowest in the first half of a finals game in the play-by-play era.