Knicks win again, close Spurs out in Game 5

Knicks rally – Jalen Brunson poured in 45 points as the Knicks overcame another early hole to beat the Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 on June 13 and capture their first NBA title since 1973. New York’s climb from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to a 21-7 closing run capped a 4-1 Fi

The Knicks didn’t just pull themselves out of a hole in Game 5. They did it again—slow start, double-digit deficit, then a late surge that left San Antonio unable to finish the job.

On Saturday. June 13. New York closed on a 21-7 run after trailing by 10 points with 8:21 left in the fourth quarter to beat the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 and win the 2026 NBA Championship for the franchise’s first title since 1973. The series ended 4-1, with Jalen Brunson carrying the moment as the Knicks refused to be denied.

Brunson. an All-Star. poured in 45 points on 14-of-27 shooting—13-of-15 from the line—then backed it with the kind of franchise-defining claim that follows champions around for decades. This was the Finals clincher. and Brunson delivered with a number that tied Michael Jordan for most points in a championship-clincher in NBA Finals history. He scored 47.9% of New York’s points in the clinching game. tying his performance to the way the title was won.

The rest of the Knicks scored 49 points total. a stark reminder that the game’s turning point belonged to one man—until it belonged to the Knicks as a whole. With the win. Brunson—29—added an NBA Finals Most Valuable Player award to the championship. completing his run as a three-time All-Star and three-time All-NBA selection.

After the game, Knicks coach Mike Brown didn’t soften his message when asked about Brunson’s status. “I’ve said it. and I hope you guys will listen to me but he’s a Top 3 MVP candidate. ” Brown told reporters after the game. He added: “Everybody kind of mentions his name in passing. They don’t do it seriously enough. People say he’s too small. People say he’s a 1B or a 2B or whatever.”.

Brown then pushed harder: “He is a freaking 1A. He is an MVP candidate. And I hope tonight you guys — and I’m talking to the media more than the fans, but I hope you guys will recognize what this man is about because he is A1 MVP. He is him.”

If the Knicks sound like a team that can win any way, the Spurs sounded like a team that couldn’t find a way to stop the bleeding.

San Antonio’s inability to close games out proved fatal far beyond this one night. The Spurs were a young team, and nerves in the NBA Finals are to be expected. But the pattern was brutal: San Antonio held a double-digit lead at some point in each of the fourth quarters across the series. In fact. inside two minutes of play in each game. the Spurs either held a lead at some point or were at least tied.

In the end, they lost the Finals in five games.

The breakdown showed up most clearly in offense. As the Knicks ramped up their defensive intensity late in games, the Spurs couldn’t generate consistent scoring. For the second straight game, San Antonio carried a double-digit lead midway through the fourth quarter and then melted down—offensively.

They scored only 7 points in the final 8:21 and shot 3-of-17 (17.6%) over that span. Victor Wembanyama is a special player. but down the stretch. New York’s defense made it hard for him to create his own looks. The burden of the late collapse looked heavier on the guards—De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle—who struggled to penetrate New York’s defense and create opportunities for teammates.

Wembanyama said after the game, “Our domination stints are absolute. We absolutely dominated for most of the series. But our errors, our mistakes, are punished so hard that we can’t have ups and downs like this. So much, you know. The ups are okay. The downs is the reason we lost.”

The Spurs can treat this as a learning experience, but coach Mitch Johnson has a specific job now: slow down when opposing teams build momentum, and figure out a way to scheme easier offense when the avalanche starts.

For the Knicks, the story wasn’t just that they won. It was how often they proved they could survive their own early mistakes.

New York lost every first quarter in the Finals. Saturday night followed the same script in ugly detail: the Knicks missed their first 5 shot attempts and finished the first quarter making only 4-of-22 field goals (18.2%). They committed 6 turnovers. which led to seven San Antonio points. and they missed all eight of their attempts inside the paint.

Wembanyama altered shots in the paint, and that mattered. But it didn’t explain everything. Slow starts weren’t an anomaly for this team—they were “practically guarantees.” Across the Finals’ first periods. New York’s combined point differential was -57. In each of the last three games, the Knicks ended the first quarter in a double-digit deficit.

They got lucky, too. The Spurs were young, and in a championship series that’s often the difference between a close game and a closing one. New York leaned on the fact that San Antonio is still learning the effort and intensity it takes to finish.

At some point, the Knicks’ late-game survival stopped looking like a fluke.

Mitch Johnson’s coaching decisions also came into sharper focus for New York’s fans: the article points to a moment where Johnson “needed to play Dylan Harper over De’Aaron Fox.”

Harper’s impact was real. De’Aaron Fox. who had once made a critical mental mistake in Game 4’s final seconds that helped the Knicks complete their record 29-point comeback. struggled again Saturday. Fox scored 7 points on 3-of-15 shooting. He did add 5 assists to help settle the offense with his ball-handling. but the core issue was the same: rookie Dylan Harper outplayed him. and it wasn’t close.

Harper was particularly dynamic in the third quarter. scoring 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting as San Antonio tried to build a cushion headed into the fourth. While it wasn’t enough to change the outcome, Harper was the player driving the charge to the rim. What made him “particularly dangerous” in this Finals was how relentlessly he attacked the paint and got to the rim instead of relying on jumpshots—an area where the Spurs. at times in the series. settled for too many jumpers and especially too many 3-pointers.

Harper finished with a team-high 25 points on 10-of-19 shooting, and his ability to neutralize San Antonio’s jump-shot approach gave New York an extra lever in the late execution.

And then there is Fox’s future, which turns this performance into a contract question the Spurs can’t avoid. San Antonio must decide what to do with Fox. who signed a four-year max extension worth $228.6 million—keeping him locked in with the franchise through 2029-30. That is a significant commitment for a player who more or less disappeared, especially late in games.

The Knicks, meanwhile, will move on to a problem every champion faces: how to hold onto the rhythm that carried them through chaos.

Game 5 ended 94-90, but the real finish was earlier, at 8:21 in the fourth quarter when the Spurs led by 10. The Knicks answered with a 21-7 closing run to claim the title. Brunson tied Michael Jordan for most points in a Finals championship-clincher and earned Finals MVP as New York captured its third NBA title and first since 1973—turning a series full of early holes into the kind of improbable ending teams remember forever.

New York Knicks San Antonio Spurs NBA Finals Jalen Brunson Finals MVP Mike Brown Mitch Johnson Dylan Harper De'Aaron Fox Victor Wembanyama 2026 NBA Championship Game 5 takeaways