New York Knicks end 53-year championship drought with 4-1 series victory over San Antonio Spurs in NBA Finals

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The New York Knicks are NBA champions for the first time in over half a century, after beating the San Antonio Spurs 4-1 in the NBA Finals.

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A 94-90 victory in Game 5, on the road in Texas, sparked wild celebrations across New York City.

The Knicks entered Saturday night's match-up in a commanding position, following their remarkable comeback earlier in the week at Madison Square Garden.

Victor Wembanyama and company led by 29 points at one stage of the second quarter, and 27 at the half, but ultimately lost as the Knicks completed the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history.

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That ensured the men in blue and orange had three chances at a series-clinching win, which would seal a first championship since the great Walt Frazier spearheaded glory in 1973.

They would only need one, though. Unsurprisingly for this team now known for their never-say-die attitude, the Knicks came back from a 16-point deficit to win it.

Indeed, the Spurs became the first team in the last three decades to open up a 10-point lead in the opening quarter of five straight Finals games.

The Knicks, as in many portions of their glorious last fortnight, were outplayed throughout the first half and struggled for any shot-making rhythm whatsoever - but yet again, it did not matter.

Fittingly, Jalen Brunson was the hero of the night, en route to sealing the NBA Finals MVP award. He scored 45, including 13 straight in the fourth quarter, to drive the Knicks to victory.

Brunson said post-game: "I have no words. It's everything I ever dreamed of. I'm in awe. Whenever someone counted us out, we found a way to come back and do something about it."

Brunson will be feeling like the most vindicated man in sport, having given up $113 million of bargaining power over his new contract in 2024 in order to help build a title-winning team.

His financial sacrifice in chase of a ring meant the Knicks had the cap space to sign the missing pieces in the jigsaw - a la NFL icon Tom Brady, who left tens of millions on the table when at his peak to guarantee elite players around him.

In Brunson's case, his fellow superstar starters come in the form of Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart and OG Anunoby.

The latter is the London-born forward who was responsible for arguably the greatest moments in Knicks history, with firstly his block, and then the tip-in to win the extraordinary Game 4 in the dying embers.

On the other side of the court, 7ft 5in French wonderkid Wembanyama tasted defeat in his first shot at the Larry O'Brien Trophy, after a phenomenal campaign in which he was named Defensive Player of the Year.

Wembanyama rued the Spurs' blown leads in his press conference: "What I’m p****d about is that there’s probably a hundred games before we can be back in the finals. I’m going to have to hold that inside of me.

"It’s been hard and full of lessons. 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."

During the trophy presentation, Knicks owner James Dolan apologised to fans for the agonising wait for gold: "Hey New York, I'm sorry it took so long, but here we are, and hopefully it won't take that long again!"

Dolan had made headlines earlier in the series for inviting friend and US President Donald Trump to Madison Square Garden to take in Game 3, which caused two-hour security check lines for fans.

He then got into a war of words with another politician, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who questioned why a watch party for ticketless fans had been cancelled by Dolan.

Mamdani, a Knicks fan who has sat in the 'cheap seats' for the home games in this series, confirmed on X in the aftermath of the clincher: "Parade. Thursday. Manhattan."

The celebrations have already started, of course. The streets of the five boroughs were immediately swarmed with hoards of Knicks fans singing, screaming, and letting out 53 years of emotion.

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