For the first time since Richard Nixon sat in the White House, a basketball championship belongs to New York. The Knicks closed out the San Antonio Spurs 94–90 on Saturday night in San Antonio, taking the Finals four games to one and ending a drought that stretched back to 1973. The man who carried them there was Jalen Brunson, the captain who has spent three seasons turning Madison Square Garden into a fortress and who saved his finest performance for the night it mattered most.
Brunson poured in 45 points in the clincher, a Knicks record for a Finals game, and was named Finals MVP. The pattern was familiar to anyone who watched the series: New York fell behind, weathered the storm, and let Brunson take over the fourth quarter. New York sat 16 points adrift and was still ten down inside the final eight minutes before he dragged them in front for good, hitting a go-ahead floater inside the final minute and burying free throws down the stretch. He did it on a tender left ankle he had turned moments earlier, and after watching a no-call on a three-pointer that left him and coach Mike Brown furious.
