The New York Knicks outlasted the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 to earn their first title in 53 years.
Jalen Brunson dropped 45 points, including 13th straight in the fourth quarter.
The Knicks won the series 4-1 after rallying from double digits in all four wins, including a 16-point deficit on Saturday night.
For the record, Brunson closed with a statement as he set a New York record for points in a finals game; it had been 38 by Willis Reed against the Lakers in Game 3 of the 1970 series.
Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart are two members of the “Nova Knicks” trio, which includes Brunson, who were NCAA champions at Villanova and teamed up in New York to try to do the same.
Bridges had 14, while Hart added 13 points.
On the other hand, Dylan Harper led the Spurs with 25 points, while Victor Wembanyama tallied 19 points, 14 rebounds, and five blocked shots.
New York improved to 4-0 in closeout opportunities this season, winning them all on the road.
The Knicks were on the brink of this title by rallying from 29 points down in Game 4 to win 107-106 on OG Anunoby’s tip-in with 1.2 seconds left on Wednesday night.
It was the largest comeback in NBA Finals history and the biggest comeback in any game this season, regular or playoffs.
While Game 5 followed the sequence in the opening minutes, with San Antonio taking a double-digit lead in the first and then frittering most of it away in the second.
New York missed 26 of their first 18 shots and each of their first 11 two-point attempts, and there was even a point in the second when Wembanyama blocked five shots for the Spurs to almost take over the first half.
Meanwhile, Brunson won NCAA crowns twice with Villanova, both in Texas, the 2016 one in Houston and the 2018 one in San Antonio, just a few miles away from the arena that the Spurs call home.
The 6-foot-2 second-round pick was named the Finals MVP.
