NEW YORK, June 14 (Our New York News) — The New York Knicks are NBA champions for the first time since 1973, a result supported by the league’s official game and series records.
The Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on June 14, 2026, and won the best-of-seven series 4-1, according to the official NBA result reflected in league records. The win gave New York its third NBA championship and ended a 53-year title drought.
The box score gives the clearest account of how the title was won: Knicks guard Jalen Brunson scored 45 points in the clinching game, the top confirmed individual total in the records reviewed for Game 5. No other full player stat line was included in the records available for this article.
The championship also changed the Knicks’ place in franchise history. NBA historical records list New York’s previous titles as coming before this season, with the last in 1973. The league’s Finals records also show the Knicks had not reached the NBA Finals since 1999, when they lost to the Spurs 4-1.
This time, the same matchup ended in New York’s favor by the same series margin.
The documented series record shows the Knicks took four of five games. In Game 4, league game records and accounts based on them show New York overcame a 29-point deficit at Madison Square Garden before heading to San Antonio with a chance to clinch. The records reviewed did not include a direct NBA historical page confirming whether that was the largest comeback in Finals history, so this article is not independently making that superlative claim.
Game 5 was played in San Antonio, but the impact was centered in New York City. The title was the Knicks’ first in more than half a century and immediately drew celebrations around the city, including outside Madison Square Garden, according to on-scene reporting by The Associated Press and other national and international outlets.
City government also began planning the public celebration. The mayor’s office announced a ticker-tape parade and a City Hall ceremony for the team on Thursday, according to reports citing the city’s announcement and Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s public statement. Reuters reported that Mamdani posted “HISTORY” on X after the clinching win.
The records reviewed do not include the parade route, start time or detailed city logistics. They also do not include official crowd estimates, arrest figures, injury totals or street-closure records tied to the celebrations.
What the available record does establish is the central result: Knicks 94, Spurs 90; New York wins the Finals 4-1; Brunson scores 45 in the clincher; and the franchise’s wait from 1973 to 2026 is over.