The New York Knicks are officially the 2025-26 NBA Champions after taking down the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5.
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The opening quarter was all about defense, an area that San Antonio had the serious advantage in. While no one was scoring easily, the Knicks were ice-cold to start the game.
Terrific defense from just about everyone allowed the Spurs to jump out to another double-digit first-quarter advantage. Victor Wembanyama blocked three shots in the first few minutes as he help the Knicks out of the paint.
After 12 minutes, San Antonio led 23-13.
Both squads have had terrific stretches of offense this postseason, but scoring the ball was a difficult task for everyone in the first half.
After coming up short in the opening frame, the Knicks returned the favor in the second quarter. Dylan Harper was one of San Antonio’s only bright spots on offense as both Stephon Castle and De’Aaron Fox were cold in the first half.
For the Knicks, Brunson found his own rhythm in the second frame after a quiet first quarter. A gritty back and forth second half ended with the Spurs ahead by five.
Harper continued to make contributions on offense in the third as San Antonio regained control.
Meanwhile, New York’s offense began to struggle with Brunson going cold again and Karl-Anthony Towns on the bench with foul trouble.
Midway through the third, Brunson appeared to roll his ankle on Wembanyama’s foot as he landed after a three-point shot attempt.
Even after the referees reviewed the play, they determined that it was not a foul on Wembanyama. If it had been deemed a flagrant foul, it would have been his fourth of this postseason and he would automatically be suspended for a potential Game 6.
The Knicks had zero points scored off the bench until the final minute of the third quarter.
This allowed the Spurs to go back up by 15, but a small scoring run by the Knicks made it a seven-point game heading into the final quarter.
Wembanyama got the fourth quarter started with a thunderous dunk before Landry Shamet made it a six-point game with a three-pointer.
A few foul calls and a coach’s challenge slowed down this back-and-forth scoring dance, but the Spurs managed to stay out in front through the early portion of the fourth.
Brunson remained the only Knick that truly shouldered the offensive load as both Towns and OG Anunoby struggled to put up points.
He had a few crucial buckets and free throws that cut the deficit to two with five minutes to play.
That’s when the Knicks picked up a crucial stop on defense before Brunson tied it with a layup on the fastbreak.
Devin Vassell responded with a huge pull-up jumper to retake a two-point lead, but Brunson drew a foul on a long-range attempt and converted all three free throws.
New York finally led for the first time since the opening minutes. Both sides came up empty on a few possessions before ANunoby made it a three-point Knicks lead on a goaltending call.
On the other end, Towns’ night ended early when he picked up his sixth foul. Wembanyama went on to miss the first free throw and sink the second.
With 90 seconds to play, San Antonio forced Brunson and the Knicks into a shot clock violation.
Harper’s heroics continued when he hit a tough fadeaway jumper to tie the game, but Brunson answered with a floater to go back up by two.
The Spurs were able to pick up two big stops, but missed back-to-back shots in transition before fouling Josh Hart with 26 seconds to go.
Hart sank the first free throw and missed the second. Fortunately for New York, Mitchell Robinson grabbed the biggest offensive rebound of his career and created another free throw opportunity.
This time, Anunoby made the first and missed the second.
With 20 seconds to go, San Antonio had the ball down by four. Although Wembanyama missed a three off the inbound, Castle made his first field goal of the night with a huge putback dunk.
On the other end, New York cut the remaining time to eight seconds before Mikal Bridges made the second of his two free throw attempts to pull ahead by three.
The Spurs had one more chance to tie it with eight seconds to play. On the inbound pass, Shamet fouled Harper quickly and sent him to the line.
Disaster struck for San Antonio when Harper missed both free throw attempts. Anunoby sank one of two attempts on the other end to seal the victory.
Brunson finished the game with 45 points, three rebounds and three assists.
Wembanyama finished the game with 19 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks.
James Parker is a sports writer for Ball Exclusives, follow him on X @TheJames_Parker
