SAN ANTONIO — Jalen Brunson scored 45 points in the New York Knicks’ NBA Finals-clinching Game 5 victory over the Spurs and was named Most Valuable Player of the series.

Brunson, 29, the first building block for the champion Knicks as the team’s major free-agent acquisition in 2022, averaged 32.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 4.6 assists in the five-game series. He was simply brilliant on Saturday when most of his teammates were not, shooting 14 of 27 from the field and 13 of 15 at the foul line.

“I was just trying to go out there, just will us to win,” Brunson said. “Wasn’t focused on anything else besides trying to win the game. … Really exciting moment knowing we won’t give up.”

Brunson scored 15 points in the fourth quarter of Game 5 — a period in which the Knicks trailed by seven at the start and by as many as 10 before yet another comeback was underway. The Knicks won 94-90 after trailing by as many as 16 in the first half.

Brunson’s 45 points tied an NBA record for a road player in a series-clinching win. He was noticeably limping as he hobbled off the court following the initial, on-court celebration. He appeared to land on Victor Wembanyama’s foot after a missed 3 in the third quarter, and said afterwards “I’m hurting.”

“Everybody kind of mentions his name in passing,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “They don’t do it seriously enough. You know, people say he’s too small. People say he’s a 1B or a 2B or whatever. He is a freaking 1A. He is an MVP candidate.”

Brunson, listed at 6-2, is one of four players in NBA history to be finals MVP who is 6-2 or shorter, joining Isiah Thomas, Stephen Curry and Tony Parker.

Brunson is the son of Knicks assistant coach and former New York player Rick Brunson, who was on the Knicks’ 1999 Finals team that lost to the Spurs. Rick Brunson joined New York’s coaching staff about a month before his son signed with the team. Leon Rose was Jalen Brunson’s agent before becoming Knicks president of basketball operations in 2020 and is also Jalen’s godfather.

Jalen signed a four-year, $104 million contract with the Knicks as a free agent in 2022, then agreed to a four-year, $156 million extension that reportedly left $113 million on the table — allowing the Knicks to keep together the core that would eventually win a championship.

“The final buzzer, I walked right to half court, shook Mitch Johnson’s hand, and then turned around and my dad was there, and felt emotional from that point on,” Jalen said. “Then I just remember Josh talking into my ear, and him just saying, like, ‘We did it! We did it!’ And then I was emotional for a good, like, five, 10 minutes, and then the excitement started to kick in.”

The ties between the Brunson family and the Knicks run deep, indelibly etched in stone now by the team’s first title since 1973 and Jalen’s series MVP honor.

“It’s everything I dreamed of,” Brunson said. “This is why I picked New York.”