Key Takeaways
- The Knicks guard delivered one of the defining performances in franchise history, scoring 45 points and taking over when the game tightened in the fourth quarter.
- The official NBA Game 5 record confirms that Brunson scored 45 as New York completed a 94-90 victory and won the Finals 4-1.
- The New York Knicks’ championship drought stretched across generations.
- The Knicks had waited 53 years between championships, the longest gap between titles in NBA history.
SAN ANTONIO, United States, June 13, 2026: The wait finally ended. The New York Knicks are NBA champions again after beating the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 of the 2026 NBA Finals, closing the series 4-1 and bringing the Larry O’Brien Trophy back to New York for the first time since 1973.
For a franchise that has carried decades of heartbreak, false dawns, famous collapses and endless Madison Square Garden noise, this was more than a basketball result.
It was a release.
Story at a glance
Brunson Turns Game 5 Into His Night
The final score tells one story.
The Spurs Led by 16, but New York Refused to Break
Game 5 carried one final reminder of the defining theme of the series.
Spurs Fight, but Their Late-Game Problems Return
San Antonio did not lose this series because it lacked talent.
New York Won the Margins That Decide Championships
Championship games rarely look beautiful for 48 minutes.
NBA Finals Game 5 Quarter-by-Quarter Score
San Antonio led 23-13 after the first quarter and carried a five-point advantage into halftime.
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Jalen Brunson made sure of it.
The Knicks guard delivered one of the defining performances in franchise history, scoring 45 points and taking over when the game tightened in the fourth quarter. San Antonio had chances to extend the series, but New York found the cleaner possessions, the braver shots and the stronger nerve when the championship was on the line.
The official NBA Game 5 record confirms that Brunson scored 45 as New York completed a 94-90 victory and won the Finals 4-1.
For continuing basketball coverage, player analysis, trades, schedules and championship reporting, visit The Sports Encounter’s NBA Hub.
Brunson Turns Game 5 Into His Night
The final score tells one story.
Brunson’s performance tells the real one.
Game 5 was not a comfortable procession for the Knicks. San Antonio stayed close, defended with desperation and forced New York to work for almost every basket.
The Spurs had the size, the energy and the home crowd.
What they did not have was Brunson’s late-game certainty.
Every championship team needs one player who can stop a difficult stretch from becoming a collapse.
Brunson became that player for New York.
He attacked switches. He punished loose coverage. He got to his spots without rushing. When the Spurs tried to crowd him, he still found enough room to create.
His 45 points were not empty volume.
They shaped the game, settled the Knicks and broke San Antonio’s resistance one possession at a time.
Brunson scored 13 consecutive New York points during the fourth quarter and finished with the highest-scoring NBA Finals performance by a Knicks player, surpassing Willis Reed’s 38-point night from 1970.
By the end, Finals MVP felt less like an award and more like a formality.
The Spurs Led by 16, but New York Refused to Break
Game 5 carried one final reminder of the defining theme of the series.
San Antonio led by as many as 16 points.
The Knicks came back again.
New York rallied from double-digit deficits in all four of its victories during the Finals, turning repeated Spurs advantages into another test of late-game execution.
That history made Game 5 feel familiar even before the final minutes arrived.
San Antonio had already experienced the same psychological battle two nights earlier, when New York erased a 29-point deficit in the largest comeback in NBA Finals history to win Game 4 107-106.
The Spurs entered Game 5 knowing they were capable of building leads against the Knicks.
The harder question was whether they could protect one.
Spurs Fight, but Their Late-Game Problems Return
San Antonio did not lose this series because it lacked talent.
The Spurs had enough size, athleticism and shot-making to trouble New York throughout the Finals.
Victor Wembanyama repeatedly gave the Knicks problems with his length, rim protection and ability to change the geometry of possessions.
In fact, Wembanyama had already shown what the Spurs could become when he produced 32 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three blocks in San Antonio’s 115-111 Game 3 victory at Madison Square Garden.
That became the Spurs’ only victory of the Finals.
Game 3 had shown that San Antonio could move the ball cleanly, get Wembanyama closer to the rim, protect possessions and make New York defend multiple creators.
The problem was reproducing that control when the pressure became greatest.
The Finals exposed a difference that often separates a young contender from a champion.
The Knicks knew how to finish.
San Antonio had already suffered the brutal Game 4 collapse after blowing a 29-point lead in New York. Game 5 carried the same emotional burden.
The Spurs played hard, but they could not fully escape the feeling that the series had turned against them.
Late possessions became heavy.
Shots tightened.
Decisions slowed.
New York kept asking the same question:
Can you close against us?
San Antonio could not answer it often enough.
New York Won the Margins That Decide Championships
Championship games rarely look beautiful for 48 minutes.
Game 5 had that familiar Finals tension where every rebound felt bigger than the box score and every missed opportunity seemed to echo.
The Knicks won because they handled the small moments better.
They defended without losing their shape.
They got enough secondary production to prevent San Antonio from loading every possession against Brunson.
Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges supplied the kind of winning plays that often disappear beneath the headline number but decide close games.
OG Anunoby gave New York defensive resistance and the confidence of a player who had already delivered the defining moment of Game 4’s historic comeback.
Karl-Anthony Towns had a difficult offensive night, but the Knicks survived because their identity no longer depended on one smooth formula.
This team could win ugly.
It could win slowly.
It could win through Brunson.
It could win through defense.
It could win after falling behind.
That adaptability became the defining difference across the series.
A year earlier, many would have questioned whether New York had enough late-playoff control to win a championship.
By the final buzzer in San Antonio, the answer was sitting on the scoreboard.
NBA Finals Game 5 Quarter-by-Quarter Score
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York Knicks | 13 | 24 | 28 | 29 | 94 |
| San Antonio Spurs | 23 | 19 | 30 | 18 | 90 |
San Antonio led 23-13 after the first quarter and carried a five-point advantage into halftime.
The Spurs still led entering the fourth.
Then New York won the championship quarter 29-18.
The Knicks did not need an offensive explosion across the entire night.
They needed to dominate the final 12 minutes.
They did.
How New York Won the 2026 NBA Finals
The final series score reads 4-1.
The games themselves were far less comfortable.
| Game | Result | Series Position |
|---|---|---|
| Game 1 | Knicks 105, Spurs 95 | New York leads 1-0 |
| Game 2 | Knicks 105, Spurs 104 | New York leads 2-0 |
| Game 3 | Spurs 115, Knicks 111 | New York leads 2-1 |
| Game 4 | Knicks 107, Spurs 106 | New York leads 3-1 |
| Game 5 | Knicks 94, Spurs 90 | New York wins 4-1 |
The complete series record is available through the official NBA Finals schedule and results archive.
Games 2, 3, 4 and 5 were all decided by four points or fewer.
That is why the final 4-1 margin does not tell the full story.
San Antonio repeatedly created opportunities to change the series.
New York repeatedly survived them.
The Knicks’ Championship Was Built on Pain, Patience and Belief
The New York Knicks’ championship drought stretched across generations.
Fans who grew up hearing about 1973 finally have their own title team.
That matters.
New York basketball has always carried a strange mixture of pride and punishment.
The city never stopped caring, even when the results gave it every reason to look away.
Madison Square Garden remained loud.
The fan base remained demanding.
The pressure never disappeared.
This team did not run from that pressure.
It fed off it.
Brunson became the face of that shift.
He plays with the pace of someone who rarely looks rushed and the edge of someone who understands how much each possession means.
In a league built around size, athleticism and highlight explosions, Brunson gave the Knicks something older and harder to measure.
Control.
That control won the series.
From 1973 to 2026: New York Finally Has Another Championship Team
The Knicks had waited 53 years between championships, the longest gap between titles in NBA history.
The franchise’s previous championship came in 1973.
Generations of supporters had lived through near misses, rebuilding cycles, short-lived contenders and long stretches when championship basketball felt impossibly distant.
This team ended all of it.
The celebrations would soon move from the court to Manhattan, where TSE later chronicled the extraordinary scenes surrounding New York’s first NBA championship parade in more than half a century.
What the Finals Mean for San Antonio’s Future
The Spurs will remember the pain of this series.
They should also remember how close they repeatedly came.
Continue the NBA Story
Wembanyama has already reached the NBA Finals as the central piece of a young contender.
Stephon Castle produced meaningful performances on basketball’s biggest stage.
San Antonio showed enough size, athleticism and defensive potential to trouble the eventual champions throughout the series.
The next step is clear.
The Spurs must turn promise into polish.
They need cleaner closing possessions, better shot selection under pressure and more reliable support when opponents force the ball away from their primary creators.
Those problems are fixable.
The Finals simply forced San Antonio to learn the lessons faster than it wanted.
That is also why the Spurs remained prominent in the following season’s championship conversation. TSE’s early look at the 2026-27 NBA title race showed how highly the league still regarded San Antonio despite the 4-1 Finals result.
Why the 2026 Finals Were Bigger Than a Five-Game Series
The 4-1 score can make the Finals look more straightforward than they actually were.
They were not.
San Antonio won Game 3.
Game 2 was decided by one point.
Game 4 was decided by one point after the Spurs led by 29.
Game 5 was decided by four.
The Finals also became a major television event as New York’s return to the championship stage collided with Wembanyama’s emergence as one of the league’s defining young stars.
TSE later examined why the Knicks-Spurs ratings surge showed the enduring power of the NBA Finals.
The series produced a champion, but it also introduced what may become one of the league’s defining rivalries of the next several years.
Final Verdict: The Knicks End a 53-Year Wait
The New York Knicks did not simply win Game 5.
They finished a 53-year argument with their own history.
The 94-90 victory over San Antonio gave New York its first NBA championship since 1973, gave Brunson the defining moment of his career and gave Knicks fans a night they had been waiting to experience for more than half a century.
San Antonio showed enough to believe its future remains bright.
New York showed why its present belongs in gold.
The New York Knicks are champions again.
The city can finally exhale.
For complete postseason coverage, game analysis and the road into the 2026-27 season, visit The Sports Encounter’s NBA Hub.
2026 NBA Finals Game 5 FAQs
Who Won Game 5 of the 2026 NBA Finals?
The New York Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5.
Who Won the 2026 NBA Championship?
The Knicks defeated the Spurs 4-1 to win their first NBA championship since 1973.
How Many Points Did Jalen Brunson Score in Game 5?
Brunson scored 45 points, including a decisive fourth-quarter stretch in which he carried New York’s offense.
Who Was the 2026 NBA Finals MVP?
Jalen Brunson won the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP Award after leading New York to the championship.
How Big Was San Antonio’s Lead in Game 5?
The Spurs led by as many as 16 points before New York completed another comeback.
What Was the Knicks’ Last Championship Before 2026?
New York’s previous NBA championship came in 1973, creating a 53-year gap between titles.
Did the Spurs Win Any Games in the 2026 NBA Finals?
Yes. San Antonio won Game 3 at Madison Square Garden 115-111. It was the Spurs’ only victory of the series.
What Happened in Game 4?
New York erased a 29-point deficit and won 107-106 on OG Anunoby’s late tip-in, taking a 3-1 series lead.
Why Was Game 3 Important?
Game 3 showed how dangerous San Antonio could be when Wembanyama attacked closer to the rim, the Spurs protected the basketball and Stephon Castle supplied secondary scoring. The victory cut New York’s lead to 2-1.
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