Knicks rally again behind Jalen Brunson’s 45 points to defeat Spurs, win franchise’s first NBA championship since 1973 At long last, the New York Knicks are NBA champions.
In a Game 5 of the NBA Finals Saturday night that looked much like the previous four, the San Antonio Spurs took a double-digit lead in the first quarter.
But like in three of the previous four games, the Knicks rallied this time from a 16-point deficit to secure a 94-90 Game 5 win and a 4-1 series victory in the NBA Finals.
Jalen Brunson led the way with a legacy-securing 45-point effort as New York’s only reliable source of offense on a night in which both teams struggled from the field. But for New York, the win didn’t have to be pretty. The result is the franchise’s first NBA championship since 1973. And Brunson has secured his place among New York’s sporting greats.
Brunson wills Knicks to championship
Brunson helped the Knicks chip away at an early 31-15 deficit by making his first three 3-point attempts of the game. In the third quarter, he hit three free throws after drawing a foul on a 3 to give the Knicks an 86-85 lead, their first of the second half. Moments later, he hit a tough floater in traffic to break an 88-88 tie with 1:06 remaining.
The Knicks didn’t relinquish the lead from there. Brunson finished Game 5 shooting 14 of 27 from the field and 4 of 7 from 3 while tallying 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals in addition to his 45 points. The effort was his fourth with 30-plus points in five Finals games. He averaged 32.6 points for the series.
Per Opta Stats, Brunson is the second player in NBA history to score 45 points on the road in a championship-clinching victory. The other was Michael Jordan in 1998 against the Utah Jazz to secure a sixth NBA title for the Chicago Bulls.
Catharsis for New York
When the final horn sounded following a desperation missed 3 by San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama, a swarm of Knicks fans who’d traveled to San Antonio to watch the closeout game celebrated in the San Antonio stands. And fans at watch parties back home across New York City partied in the streets.
Knicks players, meanwhile, were overjoyed on the court, finally able to exhale after securing three gritty NBA Finals wins prior Saturday’s Game 5 clincher. Karl-Anthony Towns, whose legacy-altering effort as a focal point of New York’s offense in the playoffs, cried tears of joy as he shared a post-champinoship embrace.
Brunson shared the moment with his father and Knicks assistant, Rick Brunson on a night when he scored 45 of New York’s 94 points in a championship-securing win.
