KNICKS WIN NBA TITLE! Beat Spurs 4 Games to 1. NY 94 San Antonio 90

June 14, 2026 LouV 2025-26 0
NY Knicks -- NBA World Champions 2026

Redemption.

Finally!

After 53 years of ups and downs and near titles (a John Starks jumpshot away) and long periods of being in the gutter and laughed at by seemingly everyone.

Redemption for the Knicks and their fans; for the owner James Dolan who has spent 20 years fighting a hard-salary cap and finally found the right GM; for Jalen Brunson who has been called “not a 1A guy”; and for this team that was seemingly handcuffed by NBA refs looking to extend the series, taking Karl-Anthony Towns out of the last 2 games with touch fouls.

In a physical fisticuff game straight out of the 1990’s, wherein the Knicks only scored 13 pts in the 1st quarter and were behind by 15 points late in the 3rd, Jalen Brunson took over — scoring 45 points and dominating the 4th quarter. As good as Dylan Harper was and as vaunted as Victor Wembanyama is, Jalen Brunson was by far the best player on the court.

KAT was taken out early again by the refs, and San Antonio led for almost the entire evening. They were up 10 with 8:21 left when Brunson scored 10 pts in a row to tie the score 83-83 with 4:48 left. Brunson hit 3 free throws after being fouled taking a 3 with 3:40 left and the Knicks had the lead. An OG Anunoby slam off a Josh Hart pass on next possession gave them an 88-85 lead with 2 minutes left.

The final minute was frenetic — with the entire city of NY living and dieing on every play:

  • Dylan Harper — playing like Michael Jordan — tied the game with a bucket inside with 1:16 left.
  • But Brunson said ‘I don’t think so’ and scored on a drive the other way.
  • Harper missed a chippie layup on the break with 26 seconds left as Hart hounded him, and with NY still up 2, it was a free-throw game from there.
  • Hart missed the 2nd of 2 free throws but Mitchell Robinson got the offensive rebound of the year — and fed OG who was fouled. OG hit 1 of 2 free throws to put NY up 4 at 92-88.
  • But Stephon Castle scored inside out of a timeout to make it a 2-pt game with 16 seconds left.
  • Mikal Bridges missed the first but hit the 2nd of 2 free throws, and the Spurs had a chance — down 3 with 8.8 seconds left.

And then the Knicks threw down the strategy of the season: intentionally fouling Dylan Harper on the inbounds to not allow a 3. Harper made the strategy work even better as he missed both free throws.

OG Anunoby went to the line with 7.7 seconds left and NY up 2, with a chance to ice the title — and missed the 1st of 2 free throws as all of NY gasped. All we needed was one more free throw to make it a 4-pt lead.

And OG hit the 2nd free throw!

The Spurs, with no timeouts remaining, sent the ball upcourt and Wemby shot a meaningless 3 at the buzzer — missing badly and the Knicks were World Champions!

“”Tonight, we played like we wanted to go home champions, to finish the game. Not to start the game, to finish the game,” said Brunson afterwards. “The opportunity presented itself,” he added. “Whatever you gotta do.”

“Shout-out to everybody who told him he couldn’t do it because it gave him fuel for the fire,” said KAT about Brunson afterwards.

Some saw it early on NBA Analyst Ross Kreines: “Jalen Brunson 2018 tweet below, Jalen won at all levels and excelled. He didn’t need a 40 vertical or measurement without shoes at the combine to tell scouts. Just needed to look at his skillset, body of work, leadership, fundamentals and heart. Just can’t measure him and all he does.”

1.  Wemby an Awesome Shot-Blocking, Slam-Dunking Tour de Force Early

The game started out as an awesome shot-blocking, slam-dunking, 3-pt-shooting tour de force by Victor Wembanyama — clearly looking to make up for his failures in the last 2 games, when he petered out and made key mistakes and missed key free throws at the end.

Wemby seemed to be blocking every shot in carnation — 3 blocks in the 1st quarter and 2 more early in the 2nd quarter. He blocked Karl-Anthony Towns twice on drives in the early going, then blocked OG Anunoby on a drive — and early in the 2nd blocked Jose Alvarado and Landry Shamet on drives.

On top of that Wemby was slamming dunks down and hitting 3’s.

But like the earlier games, Wemby’s early energy gradually petered out — he would finish with 5 blocks in the game.

2. PHYSICAL GAME from the Outset — Spurs Lead 23-13 After 1

The game was PHYSICAL from the start as the Refs were letting them play. The Spurs kept missing 3’s; the Knicks kept missing shots inside especially due to the presence of Wemby.

NY led 3-2 after a Brunson 3 and 5-4 after OG free throws, but it was all San Antonio after that — the Spurs running out to an 18-8 lead that they pushed to 23-13 by end of the 1st quarter. Besides Wemby, the Spurs were driven by the dynamic play of Dylan Harper — the #2 pick in last June’s draft (the Spurs got ‘super lucky’ in the draft lottery), who finished the night with 25 pts on 10-19 shooting (2-4 from 3).

3. NBA Refs Reverse Call — Take KAT Out Early in 2nd

Julian Champagnie from Staten Island added to the Spurs offense — hitting a 3 to end the 1st quarter and another 3 to start the 2nd quarter and the Spurs were up 26-13.

At least the Knicks had gotten a foul call on Wemby, and when KAT attacked the basket and drew a foul on Wemby it was his 2nd.

But San Antonio challenged the call — and wouldn’t you know it, it was overturned to an offensive foul on KAT and he was out of the game with 2 fouls with 8:19 left in the 2nd quarter.

KAT returned with just over 2 minutes left in the half — and immediately was charged with another bare-contact call and go back to the bench with 3 fouls and 2:34 left.

 

4. Brunson Gets Knicks Offense Going in 2nd — NY Down 42-37 at Half

The NBA taking Towns out of the game seemed to give the Knicks karma — or maybe it pissed off Jalen Brunson because Brunson started to go to work on the Spurs defense.

It started with a 3 by Mikal Bridges that made it a 31-18 game, San Antonio. Stephen Castle responded with a drive inside, but Josh Hart nailed a 3, and then Brunson hit a 3 and NY was down 33-24.

Two more Brunson buckets brought NY within 7 at 35-28 with 4 minutes left in the half.

Castle Flagrant Foul on Hart Leads to 5-Pt Play for NY

An OG steal of a Stephon Castle pass sent Hart on the break — he made the bucket while being pushed from behind by Castle for a Flagrant Foul on Castle.

Hart made the free throw and NY got back the ball — and Mikal Bridges hit a deuce and NY was within 40-37 with a minute left in the half — a huge 5-pt play.

5. NBA Refs Take KAT Early in 3rd — Spurs Go Up by 15

Yet again the NBA and its Refs struck to start the 3rd — KAT hit with a ticky-tack call 15 seconds into the quarter and he was back to the bench with 4 fouls. The Knicks were going to have to do this with 1 hand tied behind their back.

Mitchell Robinson came in and did a good job of Defense on Wemby.

But Champagnie hit another 3, and Wemby hit a deuce and the Spurs were up 12.

The Knicks stayed within range of the Spurs throughout the first part of the 3rd — with Dylan Harper and Wemby getting buckets for San Antonio, and Bridges, Brunson, and OG scoring for NY.

6. Wemby Gets Away with Flagrant

The Spurs were up 59-50 with 5:29 left in the 3rd when Brunson hit a straight away 3 and came down on Wemby’s foot — one of which Wemby had planted in his landing zone. Brunson fell to the ground in pain as the play wehn the other way with no foul call on Wemby — and Devin Vassell hit a 3 to put the Spurs back up 9.

Brunson and coach Mike Brown and Knick fans HOWLED that Wemby should have been hit with a Flagrant 1 — which would have caused an automatic suspension for the next game. But the refs looked the other way.

Dylan Harper then went on a 6-0 run to put the Spurs up 15 at 68-53 with 3:11 left.

7. NY Pushes Back — Down 7 Going into 4th

But NY — their karma and pissed-off-ed-ness building up — pushed back.

  • Hart hit a 3,
  • Brunson hit 3 free throws after being fouled taking a 3,
  • Jordan Clarkson made a big bucket with 39 seconds left, and
  • Mitchell Robinson put back an offensive rebound to make it a 7-pt Spurs lead heading into the 4th.

8. Harper Tough — Spurs Up by 10 Pts with 8:21 Left

It was a firefight to start the 4th — the Spurs desperate with their season on the line; the Knicks desperate to close it out.

Keldon Johnson hit a 3,

  • Josh Hart countered with a 3,
  • Wemby got a bucket inside,
  • Shamet countered with a 3,
  • Devin Vassell counter-countered with a 3,
  • Castle hit a free throw,
  • Shamet countered with a 3, but
  • Dylan Harper scored again inside — and the Spurs were up 83-73 with 8:21 left.

9. Brunson Takes Over — Scores 10 in a Row and More in Final Minutes

And then Jalen Brunson just took over — going on a 10-0 run to tie the score at 83-83

  • 2 free throws off a drive,
  • Another drive inside,
  • Another drive inside,

  • 2 free throws off another drive, and
  • Another drive for a tie game with 4:48 left.

All the while the Knick DEFENSE holding the Spurs down.

  • Vassell hit a deuce to put the Spurs up 1, but
  • Brunson drew a foul taking a 3 and hit 3 free throws to put NY up 86-85 with 3:40 left.

The OG dunk came next, and then Dylan Harper tied it at 88-88 with 1:16 left.

And so Brunson went to work again with a HUGE bucket for the lead.

Hart defended Harper into a miss on a chippie layup down the other end, and it became an end-game of free throws described at the top .

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401859967

 

 

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