Knicks claim first NBA title in 53 years

They beat Spurs 4-1 in the best-of-seven championship series

LOS ANGELES:

The New York Knicks, fueled by a sensational 45 points from Jalen Brunson, rallied again to beat the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 and win their first NBA title in 53 years on Saturday.

The Knicks won the best-of-seven championship series 4-1, denying Victor Wembanyama and his young Spurs teammates on their home floor to lift the trophy for the first time since 1973.

The Knicks, who recovered from 29 points down in game four to produce the biggest comeback in Finals history, erased a double-digit deficit to win for the fourth time in the series.

They trailed by 16 in the second quarter and were down by 10 early in the fourth, but Brunson wouldn't let them lose.

Brunson set a Knicks record for points in a Finals game, surpassing Willis Reed's 38 in game three of the 1970 triumph over the Los Angeles Lakers.

French star Wembanyama scored 19 points, pulled down 14 rebounds and blocked five shots and rookie Dylan Harper scored 25 points off the bench for San Antonio.

But once again the Spurs team that vanquished the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference finals were unable to hold off the crafty and determined Knicks.

The win marked the final chapter of a dramatic playoff run which had captivated New York, with tens of thousands of long-suffering fans packing neighborhood watch parties throughout the Big Apple as the team inched towards a first title in more than half a century.

Within moments of clinching victory on Saturday, the Empire State Building was lit up in the Knicks' signature orange and blue colors, as raucous celebrations erupted outside the team's Madison Square Garden home.

World Cup in the cold

The World Cup carnival arrived in New York on Saturday, but it was drowned out by the city's elation after the hometown Knicks broke a 53-year curse to win the NBA Finals.

The 2026 World Cup debut of five-time winners Brazil, who ground out an uninspiring 1-1 draw against Morocco, was overshadowed by the Knicks' 94-90 victory over the San Antonio Spurs.

New York erupted in celebration in the aftermath, with fans letting off fireworks and a cacophony of cheers and car horns reverberating around the city.

"Knicks in five!" chanted crowds after the hometown basketball dynasty sealed the seven-match series in five.

"It's been so long, it's been such a long time coming, you know?" Stephen Maltz, a 31-year-old airline pilot, said at a viewing party in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn.

"And it's just in a time where the city needs to have something to get stoked about, it's got to be this," added Maltz, who tore off his signature orange and blue Knicks T-shirt and ran down the street in celebration.

Times Square in central Manhattan was packed with Brazil and Morocco fans following their clash, but the rest of the city surged with elated crowds of Knicks fans.

"Everyone could unite over the New York Knicks, and that's what we're doing right now," power plant worker Austin Fitzgerald, 31, told AFP.

"There's no other feeling like New York basketball."

While Fitzgerald acknowledged that the city would bask in the win following the fixture that was played in Texas, he insisted the Big Apple would now be ready to fully embrace the World Cup.

"There's more soccer and football fans here than I think than any other city in America," he said.

"Having games at MetLife, and just being able to stay in the city and commute" would appeal to New Yorkers new to football, he added.

In Midtown, bars were so packed that Knicks fans were forced to peer through windows to watch the thrilling final moments of the match. In an industrial section of Brooklyn, the manager of an indoor five-a-side arena said ahead of the Knicks win that "obviously the Knicks, as they should, are over-shining" the World Cup.

"Basketball is so beloved in the city of New York," 24-year-old Lucas Matuszewski explained. AFP