Knicks Win NBA Championship

The New York Knicks were in a familiar position in Game 5 of the NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs on June 13th; that is, they were trailing by double digits. New York led the series 3-1, and in all three victories, they had trailed by double digits at some point in the game and came back to win. In Game 4, the Knicks came back from being down by 29 to win 107-106. So a 16 point deficit in Game 5 wasn’t insurmountable, even though the game was on the road in San Antonio.

No problem for the Knicks. Jalen Brunson scored 45 points, the Spurs were held to just 18 in the fourth quarter, and New York beat San Antonio 94-90. The Knicks won their third NBA Championship and first in 53 years. Brunson, who averaged 32.6 points per game in the Finals, was named MVP.

The Knicks are not an overnight success. After hitting bottom with a 17-65 record in 2018-19, the franchise slowly climbed out of that hole, improving but still having frustrations. The Knicks lost in the conference semi finals in both 2022-23 and ‘23-24 seasons; last year they lost in the conference finals. Now they have reached the top for the first time since the Nixon Administration.