NEW YORK, June 14 (Our New York News) — The New York Knicks are NBA champions for the first time since 1973, according to the league’s game and series records, after beating the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on June 14, 2026.
The win gave New York the best-of-seven series 4-1 and secured the third championship in franchise history, NBA historical records show. It also ended a 53-year title gap for one of the league’s most visible teams and changed the meaning of a matchup that had long carried a painful place in Knicks history: New York’s previous Finals appearance came in 1999, when it lost to San Antonio 4-1.
The box score shows Jalen Brunson led the clinching game with 45 points. That performance provided the scoring base for a four-point win on the Spurs’ home court and capped a Finals in which the Knicks closed the series without needing a Game 6 at Madison Square Garden.
The official series record shows New York won four of five games against San Antonio. The margin in the clincher was narrow, but the series result was not: the Knicks left the Finals with a 4-1 record and the franchise’s first title in more than half a century.
The championship also completed a playoff run marked by late-series resilience. In Game 4, NBA game records show the Knicks erased a 29-point deficit at Madison Square Garden before taking control of the series. In Game 5, the Knicks again came back from a double-digit deficit, according to accounts tied to the official play-by-play and game record, though the exact largest deficit should be read from the final NBA game book.
For New York City, the result moved quickly from the box score to the streets. Fans gathered outside Madison Square Garden and elsewhere in the city after the final buzzer, according to on-scene accounts. The Garden had already been the site of the Game 4 comeback, and after Game 5 it became one of the city’s main gathering points for the end of the drought.
City government also moved to mark the title. The mayor’s office announced a ticker-tape parade and a City Hall ceremony for the Knicks on Thursday, according to public statements described in reports of the announcement. Mayor Zohran Mamdani posted “HISTORY” on X after the championship-clinching win, according to Reuters.
The documented championship facts are clear in the league record: Knicks 94, Spurs 90 in Game 5; Knicks win the Finals 4-1; Brunson scores 45; New York wins its first NBA championship since 1973 and its third overall.
