(San Antonio) – In 1973 gas was around $0.40 a gallon, milk was $1.20, The Exorcist and The Sting were playing in theaters, and the New York Knicks won the NBA title. After a 53 year drought the Knicks are champions again after defeating the San Antonio Spurs in five games.
Until last night, New York hadn’t won a championship in the NFL, NHL, MLB, or NBA in 14 years. The WNBA’s Liberty won a championship in 2024 and MLS’s New York City FC won the MLS Cup in 2021. Back on December 16, New York secured the Emirates NBA Cup 2025 by defeating San Antonio 124-113 after also trailing by double digits. Exactly half a year later, the Knicks once again bested the Spurs to claim the ultimate NBA title.
“I have no words,” Knicks Guard and Finals MVP Jalen Brunson said during the on-court celebration. “It's everything I ever dreamed of.”
During the Knicks' previous championship season, the NBA had only 17 franchises. At that time, cities like Seattle, Baltimore, Buffalo, and Kansas City-Omaha were home to teams, whereas the league has since grown by 13 teams across nine states, the District of Columbia, and Canada. The professional landscape was also vastly different: the highest salary sat at approximately $380,000—the equivalent of $2.9 million today—and the game didn’t have international players, a 3-point line, or the massive television contracts that define the modern era.
Ultimately the game came down to San Antonio’s inability to hold a lead. In all five games they entered the second quarter with a double digit lead and led at halftime in three of the five contests. In the closing game of the series the Spurs held as much as a 16 point advantage during the third quarter but watched New York claw their way back.
The Knicks maintained a perfect 4-0 record in closeout games this year, with every victory occurring on the opponent's court. Because approximately 45% of tickets were purchased by Knicks supporters, the atmosphere felt more like a home contest as the traveling fans rallied behind their team and witnessed them winning the Finals in person. New York concluded a dominant postseason run with a 16-3 record, securing victories in 15 of their last 16 matchups. This impressive streak included nine straight wins on the road.
Jalen Brunson spearheaded the Knicks' effort with a 45-point performance, which featured a critical stretch of 13 straight points in the final period. The rest of New York’s roster scored only 49 points. Supporting him were fellow "Nova Knicks" teammates Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart; the trio, who previously secured NCAA titles together at Villanova, reunited in New York with the goal of repeating that success at the professional level. Bridges and Hart contributed a combined 27 points, with Bridges scoring 14 and Hart adding 13.
With under eight minutes remaining in the final period, the Knicks faced a 10-point deficit at 83-73. Jalen Brunson took control, scoring 10 unanswered points to even the score at 83-83 with 4:48 on the clock. With just 1:05 left in the game, he connected on a 12-foot jumper to put New York ahead 90-88.
“Brunson, he is him, when it comes to New York basketball,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said after the game.
“It's why I came to New York,” Brunson said.
The Spurs were led by Dylan Harper’s 25 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists in his thirty one minutes of court time. Harper is just the tenth rookie in league history to post multiple 20-point performances during the Finals, a feat last achieved by Phoenix’s Richard Dumas in 1993, per San Antonio’s public relations department. Victor Wembanyama had 19 points, 15 rebounds, and 5 blocked shots in the loss. The Spurs had a dry spell shooting 1 for 10 in the closing minutes of the game.
“The margin of error is very thin,” Wembanyama said. “Our domination stints are absolute. We absolutely dominated for most of the series. But our errors – our mistakes – are punished so hard that we can’t have ups and downs like this.”
“This is the biggest lesson of my life, the biggest learning moment,” Wemby also said. “I can't tell exactly what the lesson is, but we're learning.”
“We weren’t ready to win an NBA championship,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said of his young squad. “The better team won. We did a lot of good things, and we didn’t finish the job. That’s what it is.”
Knicks coach Mike Brown was hired a year ago — making him the team’s 24th coach since the franchise's last championship. “It's surreal…I still can't believe it's happened.”
