Knicks win – Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks capped a 2026 championship run with a 4-1 Finals victory, beating the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5. The franchise’s third title arrives after decades of waiting—on a date that also echoes the franchise’s last banner i
When the final score landed—New York 94, San Antonio 90—Madison Square Garden had its familiar magic back. The Knicks, led by Jalen Brunson, captured the 2026 NBA Championship with a 4-1 series victory over the San Antonio Spurs, taking Game 5 and ending the franchise’s long wait for a title.
For fans across the five boroughs, it was a moment built on time. It was their first NBA championship since 1973. and for a franchise that has chased banners for generations. the relief was instant—and loud. The Knicks had arrived with a sense of inevitability only after surviving their way through the Eastern Conference: they reached the Eastern Conference Finals the year before. and they started this season with the fourth-best odds to win the championship.
The last time the Knicks raised a banner in Madison Square Garden came after May 10. 1973—after a Game 5 that stretched across the country. The NBA Finals game, played at The Forum in Inglewood, California, started at 10:30 p.m. ET and aired on ABC. Earl Monroe scored 23 points, and Bill Bradley added 20 points, seven rebounds, and five assists in a 102-93 win. That victory gave New York a 4-1 series win over Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, and the Los Angeles Lakers.
The through-line from then to now is simple: the stakes always feel the same for a team measured by championship banners. But the road has changed. This time. the Knicks didn’t just win a series—they turned a season that began with the fourth-best odds into a title run. culminating in a tight. hard-fought Game 5 against the Spurs.
That sense of a distant past returning to the present shows up even in the calendar. Thursday, May 10, 1973 carried its own reminders of what American life looked like while the Knicks were last collecting championships. The No. 1 movie was “The Poseidon Adventure,” starring Gene Hackman and Ernest Borgnine. The No. 1 song was “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree” by Dawn featuring Tony Orlando. The No. 1 album was “Aloha from Hawaii Via Satellite,” by Elvis Presley.
Baseball and hockey were moving too. The Chicago White Sox. at 17-6. held the best record in the major leagues. though they would finish 77-85 and fifth in the six-team AL West. In the NHL. the Montreal Canadiens beat the Chicago Blackhawks 6-4 in Game 6. with Yvan Cournoyer scoring a goal and adding two assists to win the Stanley Cup.
Off the court and off the ice, politics and justice were also at a fever pitch. Former U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell and former Secretary of Commerce Maurice Stans were indicted on conspiracy charges for their role in the Watergate scandal.
Everyday economics—what people felt in their routines—was moving as well. Gas was 39 cents a gallon. The median home cost was $32,500. Minimum wage was $1.60.
In the end, the Knicks’ championship doesn’t just land as a sports story. It reads like a reckoning with time—measured from May 10, 1973, when New York’s last banner was secured, to now, when Brunson’s team finally brought home another championship with a 4-1 series win and a 94-90 Game 5 victory.
New York Knicks Jalen Brunson San Antonio Spurs 2026 NBA Championship Game 5 4-1 series Madison Square Garden 1973 NBA Finals Watergate indictments John Mitchell Maurice Stans