NEW YORK, June 14 (Our New York News) — The New York Knicks are NBA champions for the first time in 53 years, a result confirmed by the league’s Game 5 score and Finals series record.
The Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 on June 14 to win the 2026 NBA Finals 4-1, according to NBA game and series records cited in accounts of the championship. The title is the third in franchise history and the first since 1973, according to NBA historical records.
The clinching game was played in San Antonio, but the consequence landed in New York City: one of the city’s longest-running sports droughts ended, and the Knicks moved from decades of near-misses and long waits into a new place in franchise history.
The box score gives the clearest account of how the title was won. Jalen Brunson scored 45 points in Game 5, according to the official box score figures cited in reports of the game. The Knicks won by four points, closing the series without needing a return to Madison Square Garden.
The Finals record also shows the scale of the finish. New York won four of five games against San Antonio. The same two franchises met in the Knicks’ previous Finals appearance in 1999, when the Spurs won that series 4-1, according to NBA historical Finals records.
The 2026 series also included one of the defining games in Knicks history. In Game 4 at Madison Square Garden, New York came back from a 29-point deficit. Accounts relying on NBA game records described it as the largest comeback in NBA Finals history, though the supplied materials did not include a direct league historical table for that superlative.
Game 5 added another rally. Reports based on the game record said the Knicks came back from a double-digit deficit before closing out the 94-90 win. One account put the deficit at 16 points, but that exact figure requires confirmation from the official play-by-play or game book.
In New York, fans gathered outside Madison Square Garden and in other parts of the city after the final buzzer, according to on-scene accounts from national and international news organizations. The supplied records did not include official crowd estimates, police totals, injury reports or arrest figures.
City government also began planning the public celebration. The New York City mayor’s office announced a ticker-tape parade and City Hall ceremony for Thursday, according to reports that cited the city’s announcement and Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s public statement on X. Reuters reported that Mamdani posted, “HISTORY,” after the Knicks clinched the championship.
The championship closes a record that had stood over the franchise for more than half a century. NBA historical records list the Knicks’ previous titles as coming before 2026, with the most recent in 1973. The 94-90 Game 5 result now places the 2026 team alongside those earlier champions.
