For the first time in 53 years, the New York Knicks are NBA Champions. Jalen Brunson earned MVP honors.
NEW YORK (WABC) -- The Comeback Knicks did it again. And now they're the Champion Knicks.
For the first time in 53 years, New York rules the NBA. Jalen Brunson scored 45 points, including 13 straight for New York in the fourth quarter, and the Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Saturday night.
The Knicks won the series 4-1, rallying from double-digit deficits in all four of those victories. The deficit was 16 on Saturday night. Brunson and the Knicks were never fazed.
"It's surreal," Knicks coach Mike Brown, who was hired a year ago -- making him the franchise's 24th coach since the franchise's last championship in 1973. "I still can't believe it's happened."
Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart -- the other two parts of the "Nova Knicks" trio that also includes Brunson, three players who were NCAA champions at Villanova and teamed up in New York to try to do the same -- combined to score 27 points. Bridges had 14, Hart 13.
"I don't know what I'm feeling," Brunson said. "I'm in awe. Whenever someone counted us out, we found a way to come back and do something about it."
Dylan Harper scored 25 for the Spurs, who got 19 points, 14 rebounds and five blocked shots from Victor Wembanyama.
"This is the biggest lesson of my life, the biggest learning moment," Wembanyama said. "I can't tell exactly what the lesson is, but we're learning."
The Knicks improved to 4-0 in closeout opportunities this season, winning them all on the road. It didn't feel like the road, though -- not with thousands of New York faithful having made the trip to Texas to see a moment 53 years in the making.
Story from ESPN News Services
Click here to share your New York Knicks spirit! Eyewitness News wants to hear from you
The New York Knicks are back in the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999, and they'll face the same opponent they did then, the San Antonio Spurs. You can watch the entire NBA Finals on ABC 7 and the ESPN app.
Game 1: June 3 at Spurs
Game 2: June 5 at Spurs
Game 3: June 8 at Knicks
Game 4: June 10 at Knicks
Game 5*: June 13 at Spurs
Game 6*: June 16 at Knicks
Game 7*: June 19 at Spurs
* if necessary
All games tip off at 8:30 p.m. ET
Dec. 16: Knicks 124, Spurs 113
Dec. 31: Spurs 134, Knicks 132
March 1: Knicks 114, Spurs 89
After Feb. 1, the Spurs lost just two games in which Wembanyama played in the regular season. One was an overtime classic in Denver at the end of it. The other was a Sunday afternoon beatdown at Madison Square Garden.
The Knicks defense was suffocating, forcing 21 turnovers and allowing the Spurs to shoot just 41%. Mikal Bridges led the Knicks with 25 points, five steals and five rebounds. It was a glimpse of what the Knicks could do defensively when locked in and continued a level of mastery over Wembanyama, who they slowed in December's NBA Cup title game in Las Vegas. -- Vincent Goodwill
New York must bottle up what helped it steamroll through the East bracket. It hasn't been just the Brunson show, although he gets a lion's share of credit. Every starter has had his moment in these playoffs.
Bridges, whose game has awakened after calls for his benching in the first three games of the first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks, is shooting nearly 60% from the field. The unsung Anunoby is scoring nearly 20 points per game on elite efficiency. And when Towns stays out of foul trouble, his ability to stretch the floor and be a secondary facilitator could help keep Wembanyama out of the paint.
Have the Knicks, who will enter next week's Finals with nine days rest, been tested enough throughout this run? Closer games will be the expectation, but that's where Brunson comes in. There's no easy individual matchup for him to hunt late in games -- he will have to be fresh and excellent in the clutch to help the Knicks capture their first ring since 1973. -- Vincent Goodwill
It all starts and ends with Wembanyama. Although the series begins in San Antonio, it's worth pointing out just how much he loves to perform under the bright lights in the celebrity-laden atmosphere at Madison Square Garden.
Counting the NBA Cup final, San Antonio faced New York on three occasions during the regular season, with the Knicks taking two of those games. Wembanyama averaged 24.7 points, 10.7 rebounds and 2.3 blocks in those matchups.
San Antonio's lack of success against New York in the regular season stems from the Knicks presenting major matchup issues for the Spurs. The Knicks' wing defenders swallow up San Antonio's shooters, and the Spurs will have to deal with physicality even more jaw rattling than what they navigated against Oklahoma City.
New York's depth in the frontcourt will also prove problematic for the Spurs with three big-time performers in Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson, who is expected to play despite a broken right pinkie, patrolling the paint. The Spurs will need Wembanyama to be the best player on the floor for four games in this series for the inexperienced Spurs to have a shot. -- Michael C. Wright
