SAN ANTONIO — When New York’s 53-year wait for an NBA championship finally ended Saturday, Karl-Anthony Towns bumped chests with Patrick Ewing. Coach Mike Brown hugged Spike Lee and wandered away from the orange-and-blue celebration at mid-court in disbelief.
“It was surreal,” Brown said. “I couldn’t believe that it was happening.”
Amid the catharsis, Jalen Brunson stoically walked down the sideline to shake hands with Spurs coach Mitch Johnson. Only when he turned around and saw his father, Knicks assistant Rick Brunson, and his close friend Josh Hart, did the emotions come pouring out.
“And then I was emotional for a good five, 10 minutes,” Brunson said.
And for good reason. The Knicks’ championship shattered two long-held NBA assumptions: that a franchise that struggled for so long lacked the ability to reach the top of the league again, and that a team built around a 6-foot-2 point guard could not win in a sport historically dominated by giants.
The Knicks had spent years chasing that old formula, pursuing or courting stars like LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid. But their best decision turned out to be the opposite: believing that Brunson could end one of basketball’s longest droughts.
On Saturday, with the Knicks trailing by 10 points with seven minutes remaining, Brunson scored 13 consecutive points during a six-minute fourth quarter burst, finishing with 45 points in the 94-90 victory over San Antonio that earned him Final MVP honors.
Although the Knicks set a postseason record for total scoring margin, they beat the Spurs by only 12 points across the five-game series. They rallied from 14-points deficits in Games 1 and 2, a 29-point hole in Game 4 and a 16-point deficit on Saturday night.
“We absolutely dominated for most of the series,” Victor Wembanyama said, “but our errors, our mistakes, are punished so hard.”
After hearing those numbers recited back to him on the court, Brunson shook his head when asked whether he ever doubted the Knicks could win.
“Never,” he said.
Brunson’s entire run was dominated by composure, trust in the work and never fearing failure.
“I’m very fortunate to be in the position I am, and I definitely think I worked pretty hard,” Brunson said. “When the opportunity presented itself like it did, I just trust my work. And if we win, we win. If we don’t, we learn, we move forward. But I’m just never afraid to fail.”
He steadied New York through a shaky first-round series against Atlanta, then orchestrated back-to-back sweeps of Philadelphia and Cleveland that built a 13-game winning streak. He fought through injuries and saved his best plays for the biggest moments.
“I would be lying to you if I thought he would be this good,” Rick Brunson said, who played for the last Knicks team to reach the Finals, in 1999, when his son was just 2 years old. “I just wanted him to come to New York, run a team and hopefully have a chance to win a championship. For him to be the guy — this is surreal.”
Comparisons to Brunson’s achievement are scarce. The closest analogues might be Bob Cousy of the dynastic Celtics or Isiah Thomas on Detroit’s back-to-back champions.
Brunson averaged 28.4 points, 6.1 assists and 2.7 turnovers during the postseason; his scoring climbed to 32.6 points per game in the Finals. In all five series games, the score was within five points in the final two minutes — in those clutch moments, Brunson shot 6-for-12 and committed zero turnovers.
“People say he’s too small, people say he’s a 1B, or a 2B or whatever. He is a freaking 1A. He is an MVP candidate,” Brown said.
Hours after the final buzzer, the celebration was still raging in the visitors’ locker room. Champagne and beer soaked the floor, cigar smoke clung to the air and the Knicks finally celebrated a title generations of fans have longed to see.
Walt Frazier, a Knicks guard on the 1970 and 1973 championship teams, said he never expected the Knicks to go 16-3 in this postseason. Thursday’s parade through Manhattan “is going to be incredible,” he said.
New York’s title owes much to Brunson beyond what he did on the court. When he renegotiated his contract in 2024 after proving himself an All-Star, he deliberately accepted roughly $113 million less than his maximum value to give the franchise room to build. That summer, the Knicks traded for Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns — both on the floor in the final seconds Saturday.
Remarkable, in hindsight, was New York’s faith in Brunson. He had started his career as a backup in Dallas, where he wanted to stay, until his attempts to negotiate a four-year, $55 million contract extension were rebuffed by the Mavericks, he recalled on the “All The Smoke” podcast.
Mavericks officials weren’t the only ones to wonder about Brunson’s long-term potential. Three years ago, former Spurs assistant Becky Hammon called Brunson “too small” and not a “1A” scorer. “If your best player is small, you’re not winning,” she said.
Her retired WNBA jersey hangs in the rafters of the Frost Bank Center. Beneath it, Brunson cradled the Finals MVP trophy Saturday night.
“I didn’t respond to the critics then,” he said, “and I’m damn sure not going to respond to them now.”
