Jalen Brunson scores 45 points as the Knicks clinch Game 5 on the road, beating the Spurs to win their first title since 1973.<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0Download the NBA App<\/a> SAN ANTONIO \u2014 In an NBA Finals<\/a> full of close contests, the New York Knicks knew how to finish games better than the San Antonio Spurs.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Knicks\u2019\u00a0collective experience wore down the Spurs in crunch time once again. They overcame double-digit deficits early and late,\u00a0survived\u00a0foul-plagued performances from Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby and relied on star Jalen Brunson to save the day\u00a0Saturday.\u00a0<\/p>\n The New York Knicks are champions for the first time since 1973, clinching that elusive title with a 94-90 victory<\/a> in Game 5. For the eighth consecutive season<\/a>, the NBA has a new champion.\u00a0<\/p>\n On a night when the Knicks struggled to score, they did what they had done throughout the regular season and playoffs:\u00a0they kept playing, they defended, and Brunson carried the offense, scoring 29 points in the second half, including 15 in the fourth quarter, to lead New York to\u00a0a series-clinching\u00a0road victory.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Knicks were 16-3 in the playoffs\u00a0and won\u00a015 of the final 16 postseason games, including nine consecutive road games.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe weren\u2019t ready to win an NBA championship. The better team won,\u201d said Spurs coach Mitch Johnson. \u201cWe did a lot of good things, and we didn\u2019t finish the job. That\u2019s what it is.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n 1. Brunson saves the day<\/p>\n Brunson, the Finals MVP<\/a>,\u00a0scored a game-high 45 points \u2013 the rest of the Knicks had just 49.\u00a0But Brunson\u2019s production was enough, especially as he delivered basket after basket in the game\u2019s biggest moments.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBrunson, he is him, when it comes to New York basketball,\u201d said Knicks coach Mike Brown.\u00a0<\/p>\n Points were difficult to find all game. The Knicks had 15 points in the opening 16 minutes, but Brunson kept the game close with 16 first-half points.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Jalen Brunson scores a Knicks Finals record 45 points in the closeout victory over the Spurs.<\/p>\n It was the fourth quarter, though, when he took matters into his own hands.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Knicks trailed 83-73 with less than eight minutes left in the fourth quarter. Brunson scored the game\u2019s next\u00a010\u00a0points, and it was 83-83 with 4:48 to play. His 12-foot jumper with 1:05 to play gave the Knicks a 90-88 lead.\u00a0<\/p>\n Brunson was 14-for-27 from the field, including 4-for-7 on 3-pointers, and 13-for-16 on free throws.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI know how much he works, how good of a person he is, how good of a basketball player he is,\u201d said Knicks forward Mikal Bridges, who won an NCAA championship with Brunson and Josh Hart at Villanova in 2016. \u201cI\u2019m just grateful to be on his side again. That\u2019s really how I put it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n 2. Harper stars alongside Wembanyama\u00a0<\/p>\n Spurs rookie Dylan Harper scored a team-high 25 points on 10-for-19 shooting and had five rebounds and four assists. The backup guard, who likely will move into the starting lineup next season, gave the Spurs a boost with a 3-pointer and two paint buckets shortly after entering the game in the first quarter.\u00a0<\/p>\n Harper is the first rookie to\u00a0record\u00a0multiple Finals games\u00a0with at least 20 points since Richard Dumas did it for the Phoenix Suns in 1993 and only 10\u00a0rookies\u00a0have accomplished that, according to the Spurs\u2019\u00a0public relations staff.\u00a0<\/p>\n Wembanyama had 19 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks, and had already absorbed lessons from a painful loss in the Finals.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe margin of error is very thin,\u201d Wembanyama said. \u201cOur domination stints are absolute. We absolutely dominated for most of the series. But our errors\u00a0\u2013\u00a0our mistakes\u00a0\u2013\u00a0are punished so hard that we can\u2019t have ups and downs like this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n 3. Hart, Bridges pick up Towns, Anunoby<\/p>\n Towns played just 23 minutes\u00a0because of\u00a0foul trouble. He fouled out with 1:53 left in the fourth quarter with two points on 1-for-7 shooting, 10 rebounds, three steals and five turnovers. Anunoby, the Game 4 hero<\/a>\u00a0after his\u00a0winning tip-in, had five fouls and finished with 11 points on 3-for-11 shooting, eight rebounds and three steals.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n After Brunson, the Knicks were 17-for-60 from the field. But Mikal Bridges (14 points) and Josh Hart (13 points) provided enough secondary offense to help the Knicks. Hart also collected eight rebounds, and the Knicks made play after play in the fourth quarter\u00a0\u2013 a\u00a0Mitchell Robinson offensive rebound off a missed free throw by Hart was one of Robinson\u2019s 10 rebounds and Landry Shamet\u2019s five points in the fourth were small but important contributions.\u00a0<\/p>\n 4. Knicks complete NBA\u2019s 1st championship \u2018Double\u2019<\/p>\n In a total team effort, the Knicks top the Spurs to snag the 2025 Emirates NBA Cup.<\/p>\n On Dec. 16, the Knicks beat the Spurs<\/a>, 124-113, to win the Emirates NBA Cup 2025<\/a>. Six months later, the Knicks beat the Spurs to win the NBA championship.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Knicks are the first team to win both the NBA Cup and an NBA championship, either in the same season or overall.\u00a0<\/p>\n New York trailed the Spurs by double digits in the NBA Cup and came back to win. \u201cWe\u2019re going to find a way. We\u2019re going to fight. We\u2019re not going to quit. We\u2019re going to go out there and do what we got to do,\u201d Brunson said then.\u00a0<\/p>\n Throughout the playoffs, the Knicks showcased that resilience repeatedly, including multiple times during the Finals.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTo have the fans that we have in New York City,\u201d Brown said, \u201cand be able to bring home a championship after all these years is absolutely amazing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n * * *\u00a0<\/p>\n Jeff Zillgitt has covered the NBA since 2008. You can email him at\u00a0jzillgitt@nba.com<\/a>, find\u00a0his archive here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0follow him on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jalen Brunson scores 45 points as the Knicks clinch Game 5 on the road, beating the Spurs to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":703133,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99,303943],"class_list":["post-703132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports","tag-spurs-knicks-game-5"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=703132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/703133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=703132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=703132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=703132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u2022\u00a0Complete coverage:\u00a02026 NBA Finals<\/a><\/p>\n