NEW YORK, June 14 (Our New York News) — The New York Knicks are NBA champions for the first time since 1973, according to official league game and series records, ending a 53-year title drought with a 94-90 win over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on June 14.
The clinching win gave New York the best-of-seven series 4-1, NBA Finals records show. It also gave the Knicks the third championship in franchise history, changing the standing of a team that had not reached the Finals since 1999 and had not won the league title in more than five decades.
The box score provides the clearest explanation of how the final game turned. Jalen Brunson scored 45 points for New York, according to the official NBA box score, carrying the Knicks in a close road win in San Antonio. The final margin was four points, and the Knicks held off the Spurs to finish the series before it could return to New York.
The title also closed a historical loop for the franchise. NBA historical Finals records show the Knicks’ previous Finals appearance came in 1999, when they lost to the Spurs 4-1. This time, New York won by the same series margin against the same opponent.
The championship run included at least two late-series rallies documented in game records and national coverage. In Game 4 at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks came back from a 29-point deficit. That comeback was described in reports citing NBA records as the largest in Finals history, though a direct league historical table confirming that superlative was not included among the records available for this article. In Game 5, New York also rallied from a double-digit deficit; one report placed the deficit at 16 points, but the exact figure would require confirmation from the official play-by-play.
What is not in dispute is the final record: Knicks 94, Spurs 90; Knicks win series 4-1. Those figures are the basis for the championship finding and the end of the drought.
The result set off celebrations in New York City, especially around Madison Square Garden, according to on-scene accounts from The Associated Press and international outlets. The Garden was not the site of Game 5, which was played in San Antonio, but it remained the center of the local reaction because it is the Knicks’ home arena and the symbol of the team’s long wait.
City government also moved to mark the title. The New York City mayor’s office announced a ticker-tape parade and City Hall ceremony for the Knicks on Thursday, according to public statements cited after the game. Mayor Zohran Mamdani posted “HISTORY,” on X after the clinching win, according to Reuters-based coverage.
The available records do not provide crowd estimates, arrest totals, injury reports, parade route details or start times. They also do not include a full Game 5 box score beyond Brunson’s 45 points. For now, the documented core of the story is the championship itself: after 53 years, the Knicks won the NBA title, beating San Antonio 94-90 in Game 5 and closing the Finals in five games.
