Jalen Brunson powers Knicks past Spurs for first NBA championship since 1973

The New York Knicks are NBA champions for the first time since 1973 after defeating the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 of the finals on Saturday night.

Jalen Brunson carried New York with 45 points, scoring 13 consecutive Knicks points during the fourth quarter as his side came from behind to secure the championship. New York took the series 4-1 and had to erase double-digit gaps in each of its four wins. On Saturday, the Knicks trailed by 16 before turning the contest around, with Brunson at the centre of the response.

Brunson also moved into franchise history by producing the highest-scoring finals game ever by a Knicks player. The previous mark was Willis Reed's 38 points against the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3 of the 1970 finals. The new standard belongs to the left-handed guard whose arrival four years ago helped shift the direction of the team.

Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart, who with Brunson make up the "Nova Knicks" group of former Villanova NCAA champions now reunited in New York, added 27 points between them. Bridges finished with 14, while Hart contributed 13.

Brunson previously won two NCAA championships with Villanova in Texas, first in Houston in 2016 and then in San Antonio in 2018, close to the Spurs' home arena. This NBA title gave him another championship moment in the state.

Dylan Harper led San Antonio with 25 points. Victor Wembanyama added 19 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks for the Spurs.

The Knicks finished the season 4-0 when given a chance to close out a playoff series, winning each of those games away from home. The setting in Texas still had a heavy New York presence, with thousands of Knicks supporters travelling to witness the franchise end a 53-year wait.

New York had put itself on the edge of the title with a dramatic Game 4 win on Wednesday night, recovering from 29 points down to beat San Antonio 107-106 on OG Anunoby's tip-in with 1.2 seconds remaining. That was the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history and the largest comeback in any regular-season or playoff game this season.

After that, overturning a 16-point deficit in Game 5 looked far less daunting.