Jalen Brunson, named Finals MVP, scored 45 points in the decisive game, including 15 in a fourth-quarter rally that sealed the win, and averaged 32.6 points across the series, according to the Times. "I put a lot of time and effort to be best player I can be for this team and organization," Brunson told reporters after the game. "Tonight, we played like we wanted to go home as champions. Not to start but at the end."
The Knicks trailed by 10 points early in the fourth quarter of Game 5 before a late surge carried them to the title, the newspaper reported. It capped a series in which New York won all three games played in San Antonio and set a Finals record in Game 4 by overturning a 29-point second-half deficit, with a late tip-in from forward OG Anunoby proving decisive.
It is the third championship in the Knicks' history and their first since 1973, ending the longest active title drought of any of the league's original franchises. The team, founded in 1946, had not reached the Finals since 1999.
For the Spurs, the result extended a long wait of their own. The team, five-time NBA champions, had missed the playoffs for six straight seasons before this run, the Times noted. Forward Victor Wembanyama, the 22-year-old French player widely seen as the league's next dominant talent, finished Game 5 with 19 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks. "It's painful, but I'm not running away from that," Wembanyama said, according to the paper. "I'm using to fuel me."
San Antonio had been guided this season by interim-turned-permanent head coach Mitch Johnson, who took over after long-time coach Gregg Popovich stepped aside last summer following a stroke that had kept him out of most of the previous season, the Times reported.
New York finished the regular season third in the Eastern Conference with a 53-29 record, making them the lowest seed to win the title since the Golden State Warriors in 2022. Head coach Mike Brown, in his first season with the team, became the 15th coach in NBA history to win a championship in his debut year with a franchise, according to the newspaper.
The Knicks also set a postseason record for average margin of victory, at 14.9 points, and won 13 consecutive playoff games during one stretch, the second-longest streak of its kind in league history after the Golden State Warriors' 15-game run in 2017, the Times said.
A city celebrates
The win set off scenes of celebration across New York, with the Times describing crowds of Knicks fans remaining in the stands long after the final buzzer, even as home supporters filed out of San Antonio's arena. Rapper Joseph Cartagena, known as Fat Joe, a long-time fixture at Knicks games, told the paper the celebrations had brought the city together in a way he compared to the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, describing fans of different backgrounds celebrating side by side outside the arena. He also paid tribute to the partners of long-suffering Knicks fans, saying they deserved recognition for enduring decades of disappointment alongside them.
A fraught build-up under owner Dolan
The Times situated the win within the longer history of Knicks owner James Dolan, who has run the franchise for more than 26 years and has had repeated disputes with the league, former players and fans during that time. Even during this season's championship run, the paper reported, Dolan was involved in a public dispute with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani over the cancellation of outdoor watch parties for Knicks games, with each side blaming the other. The Times suggested that, whatever criticism Dolan's ownership has attracted over the years, the 2026 title is likely to reshape how his tenure is remembered.
Knicks now favourites to defend their title
Looking ahead to next season, the Times noted that the Knicks will attempt to break what it described as an unusual run for the NBA, in which the league has had eight different champions in as many years, the longest such streak in its history. The last team to win back-to-back titles was the Golden State Warriors in 2017 and 2018.
The paper said the Eastern Conference could be more competitive next season, citing a fully healthy Jayson Tatum for the Boston Celtics, the Detroit Pistons building around Cade Cunningham after finishing top of the conference, a healthy Tyrese Haliburton for Indiana, and uncertainty over whether the Cleveland Cavaliers could pursue Giannis Antetokounmpo or LeBron James, or simply keep their roster intact in the way the Knicks did this season.
In the Western Conference, the Times said the Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder, who reached this year's Western Conference finals, would be favourites to return to the Finals next season without making major changes to their rosters, with Wembanyama expected to be further motivated after San Antonio's run, and reigning two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hoping for a healthier season with the Thunder.
Source: The New York Times
