2026 NBA playoff bracket, schedule: Knicks top Spurs in Game 5, win first championship in 53 years
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- Jalen Brunson scored 45 points and earned Finals MVP, leading the Knicks past the Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 for New York's first NBA title since 1973.
- OG Anunoby tipped in the game-winner with 1.2 seconds left in Game 4, completing the largest comeback in NBA Finals history after New York erased a 29-point deficit to win 107-106 at Madison Square Garden.
- Game 5 featured the Knicks digging out of a 16-point first-half hole and a double-digit fourth-quarter deficit as the young Spurs' offense sputtered and had no answers for Brunson.
- New York strung together 13 consecutive postseason wins before dropping Game 3 of the Finals, after falling behind the Hawks 2-1 in the first round and needing six games to advance.
- Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs stole Game 1 (105-95) and Game 3 (115-111), but the Knicks rolled through the East by sweeping the 76ers and Cavaliers and then closed San Antonio out in five.
Why it matters: The Knicks end their 53-year championship drought, and Brunson cements himself as this postseason's signature performer with a 45-point closeout one day after Anunoby's tip-in completed the largest Finals comeback ever. San Antonio proved this was no coronation — the Spurs split the first two games and took Game 3 in New York — but couldn't solve the Knicks in the clutch.
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