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SAN ANTONIO, Texas — The Knicks completed one of the most memorable seasons in franchise history Saturday night at Frost Bank Center, defeating the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals to win their first championship since 1973.
The only downside was that they didn’t win the deciding game in front of the home fans at Madison Square Garden, but there were enough Knicks fans in San Antonio to make it feel like a New York crowd at times.
New York entered the night with a 3-1 series lead and a chance to end 53 years of frustration. The Knicks staged a historic comeback in Game 4 to put themselves on the brink of basketball greatness and they finished the job Saturday night. Even though they would have loved to do it at home, the Knicks clearly weren’t going to pass up the opportunity to win an NBA championship.
Game 5 started like every other game in the series, with San Antonio taking an early lead. The Spurs won the first quarter for the fifth straight time, and once again the Knicks found themselves facing a double-digit deficit.
New York scored just 13 points on 4-of-22 shooting in the first quarter, tied for second in an NBA Finals opening quarter debut in the shot clock era, according to ESPN. Only the 2016 Golden State Warriors, who scored 11 points in the first quarter of Game 6 against the Cleveland Cavaliers, had fewer.
But the Knicks did what they’ve done in every series.
After trailing by 16 points in the first half, New York narrowed the gap to five points at halftime. A late flagrant foul on Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox helped New York turn a possession into five points with just over a minute left in the second quarter. The Knicks cut the lead to three, but Devin Vassell beat the first-half buzzer with a mid-range jumper.
Jalen Brunson scored 16 of New York’s 37 points in the first half, while Victor Wembanyama nearly had a double-double in the first 24 minutes with nine points and nine rebounds.
However, the Knicks had a major problem almost immediately after halftime. Karl-Anthony Towns, the team’s most influential man, picked up his fourth foul just 15 seconds into the third quarter.
The impact was felt almost immediately when his replacement, Mitchell Robinson, committed a flagrant foul that allowed San Antonio to return the favor with a six-point run, bringing the lead back to double digits.
Then came another twist: Brunson appeared to roll his ankle with 5:18 left in the third quarter. After scoring three points, Brunson landed on Wembanyama’s foot. Brunson and Knicks coach Mike Brown yelled at the referees for not fouling Wembanyama in what could have been considered a blatant closeout. If officials had assessed a flagrant, it would have triggered an automatic suspension for a potential Game 6, since it would be his fourth flagrant point of the playoffs.
Instead, the game continued and Vassell responded with a 3-pointer on the other end. Brunson immediately returned to the game after a New York timeout, but the momentum seemed to swing back toward San Antonio as the Spurs then extended the lead to 15 points. Dylan Harper scored 10 of his 25 points in the third quarter.
But Brunson didn’t let that moment affect his play. Once again, the star guard put the team on his back with Towns stuck on the struggling bench, scoring 14 points in the third quarter to cut the lead to seven heading into the fourth.
And Brunson wasn’t even close to being finished.
He hit a layup with 4:48 left that tied the game at 83 and gave him 40 points. After the Spurs responded, Brunson fouled a 3-point attempt with 3:40 left and made all three free throws, giving the Knicks their first lead since the start of the first quarter. They pushed the lead to three points, their largest lead of the game, with 2:07 left because of a goaltending violation.
The final minutes got chaotic from there. Towns fouled out, Wembanyama split two free throws, Harper tied the game and Brunson responded with another basket to put the Knicks back in front.
New York survived the melee by controlling the glass and doing just enough at the free throw line. Castle’s dunk cut the deficit to two with 16 seconds left, but Mikal Bridges split a pair at the other end to give the Spurs the ball with eight seconds left, trailing by three.
The Knicks chose to foul rather than allow San Antonio to attempt a three-way tie and the strategy worked exactly as expected. Harper missed both free throws, the Knicks grabbed the rebound and that’s all she wrote.
Brunson scored 45 points, tied for third for most points ever in a deciding NBA Finals game.
It will be time to figure out what this means for San Antonio and Victor Wembanyama. The Spurs aren’t going anywhere with a roster built around young stars Wembanyama, Harper and Castle.
But Saturday night belonged to the Knicks.
For more than five decades, Knicks fans have waited for a team to win another championship. They waited despite bad teams, failed rebuilds, 22 different head coaches, missed opportunities and endless jokes.
The wait is over.
