Knicks Win In-Season Championship Tourney! NY 124 San Antonio 113

December 17, 2025 LouV 2025-26 0
Knicks win 2025 In-Season Tourney Title. Photo courtesy NY Knicks.

Maybe the In-Season Championship Tourney isn’t a bad thing after all!

Because the Knicks are your current NBA champions!

Champions of the 2025 In-Season Tourney Championship — after beating the San Antonio Spurs soundly — 124-113 on a Tuesday night in Las Vegas!

Jalen Brunson was named the In-Season Tourney MVP — but the heroes of this, the final game were Tyler Kolek, OG Anunoby, Mitchell Robinson, and Jordan Clarkson, who carried the Knicks in the 2nd half — eliminating an 11-point deficit near the end of the 3rd, and turning it into a 10-pt lead in the 4th off a 19-3 run.

  • OG Anunoby starred all night — defending Wemby at times, coming up with steals, and attacking offensively — going to the glass for scores or hitting 3’s from the corner. OG was the game’s high scorer with 28 pts on 10-17 shooting (5-10 from 3).
  • Mitchell Robinson dominated the boards against 7’5 Victor Wembanyama, with offensive rebounds that led to 3’s.
  • Clarkson was hitting some of those 3’s with a clutch-shooting attack. Clarkson hit 3 huge 3’s in the 3rd and 4th quarters and had 15 pts overall on 6-15 shooting (3-7 from 3) with a +15 in 27 minutes.
  • And Tyler Kolek played his best game of the 7 straight great games he has played — this time playing the majority of the 4th quarter — orchestrating, penetrating, and coming up with big buckets, big assists, big steals and defensive plays. Kolek had 14 pts on 5-9 shooting (2-5 from 3), with 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and a +14 in 20 minutes.

Kolek stayed in because he was playing exceptionally well, and also to take the ball-handling load off Jalen Brunson, who was being physically pressured and blitzed at mid-court by San Antonio and 6’6 Stephon Castle.

Mitch finished with 15 rebounds in 18 minutes, 2 blocks, a steal, and a +9. He had 4 pts, including a dunk inside off an offensive rebound against Wemby. Wemby had 18 pts on 7-17 shooting (2-6 from 3) with only 6 rebounds in 25 minutes for a -18.

Karl-Anthony Towns did his part, aggressively attacking the rim even with Wemby there. KAT had 16 pts on 6-12 shooting (2-5 from 3) and 11 rebounds despite sitting out a good 10 minutes from the 3rd period into the 4th after a minor ankle sprain.

Josh Hart also made BIG plays in the 4th quarter — on defense and offense (11 pts on 5-7 shooting, 1-3 from 3), and Jalen Brunson was the heartbeat of the Knicks all night although he didn’t have his best shooting game against Castle and the hounding and physical Spurs defense — scoring 25 pts on 11-27 shooting (1-5 from 3) with 8 assists and a +15. Brunson came up big in the 4th.

“Could I say something before I answer your question?,” said Jalen Brunson afterwards when asked what the win meant to the team. “OG Anunoby, Tyler Kolek, Jordan Clarkson, Mitchell Robinson — they played their ass off tonite. Without them we don’t win this. They played their ass off tonite.”

The win doesn’t count in the standings, so NY stays at 18-7, 2.5 behind Detroit. San Antonio stays at 18-7.

1. Game Is Close in 1st Quarter

The game went back and forth in the 1st quarter — De’Aaron Fox, Luke Kornet, Devin Vassell, and Harrison Barnes getting buckets for San Antonio, while KAT, Brunson, OG, and Josh Hart were getting buckets for NY.

Wemby didn’t start — this was his 2nd game back from an injury — so he came off the bench to limit his minutes. He scored a bucket late in the quarter; San Antonio led after 1, 30-28.

2. Spurs Pull Out to 7-Pt Lead in 2nd, But NY Comes Right Back

Kornet kept being a pain in the ass to start the 2nd quarter with another tip-in inside, and then Dylan Harper hit consecutive 3’s and the Spurs were up 41-35.

A Stephon Castle DUNK off a Wemby feed gave the Spurs a 7-pt lead at 50-43 with 5:23 left in the quarter — a nervous time for NY.

But NY came right back — Brunson with a pullup, KAT with free throws off a drive and then a fadeaway, and Brunson with a drive and it was 54-51 San Antonio.

OG Brings It All Night for NY

OG Anunoby continued to take it to the rim — making a drive off a Brunson assist with 42 seconds left, then dunking off an Ariel Hukporti steal and Brunson assist for a 59-59 tie before the half.

“Tweeted this below on OG Anunoby in 2020,” noted NBA Analyst Ross Kreines. “OG plays with a purpose, plays to his and the Knicks strengths, uses his size/strength to his advantage, moves with a purpose, takes pride in getting stops and makes you earn yours, improved jumper sets up dribble drive. Plays for name on front.”

3. Wemby Scores 10 Straight Pts to Give Spurs 11-Pt Lead in 3rd

De’Aaron Fox hit a runner in the final seconds of the 2nd quarter to give the Spurs a 2-pt lead at the half, and then hit a 3 to start the 3rd and San Antonio started to build a lead again.

Kornet scored inside off a Castle assist and San Antonio was back up 69-61.

But Mikal Bridges — who had a rough night offensively and sat throughout the 4th — hit a big 3, then made 2 free throws off a drive a minute later to keep NY close.

KAT scored 7 straight pts for NY, but NY couldn’t gain traction as Castle and Dylan Harper were scoring for San Antonio. A Mikal Bridges jumper made it 84-79 San Antonio with 3:17 left.

That’s when Wemby started to dominate — hitting a 3, scoring on an alley oop inside, then hitting another 3 for an 11-pt San Antonio lead — 92-81 with 2:07 left in the 3rd.

4. Knicks Go on 19-3 Run at End of 3rd into 4th; Take 100-95 Lead

The Knicks stormed right back — and it was the 2nd team that did it.

Jordan Clarkson and Tyler Kolek hit back-to-back 3’s and NY was right back within 5.

Wemby scored his 10th straight point on an outside jumper over Robinson; but Brunson scored on a drive and NY was down 5 going into the 4th.

And in the 4th — NY’s run continued, the 2nd team pushing it.

Mitch Dominates Inside

Mitchell Robinson continued to dominate the boards — grabbing his own offensive rebound for a dunk — NY was down 3 at 94-91.

Next time down, Mitch grabbed another offensive rebound, Wemby blocked his layup attempt, but Mitch grabbed his own offensive rebound and fed Clarkson for a 3. Tie game at 94-94.

A minute later, OG Anunoby grabbed an offensive rebound and hit a 3 from the corner — NY 97 San Antonio 94.

Kolek — playing exceptionally well — stayed in the game, and shared the backcourt with Brunson.

Brunson became the scoring guard — hitting consecutive step-backs for a 104-97 NY lead.

Mitch Robinson grabbed ANOTHER offensive rebound and scored inside for a 106-99 Knick lead with 7 minutes left.

5. Kolek Stays on the Court with Brunson in 4th

The Knicks had the lead — but San Antonio wasn’t going away. It was edge-of-your-seat time — the game hanging in the balance over the next few minutes — and NY would not relinquish control.

  • The Spurs pushed back to pull within 4 — but Kolek hit a reverse layup off a Brunson assist and NY was up 6 with 6 minutes left.
  • San Antonio pulled within 3 on a Stephon Castle 3, but Clarkson hit another Huge 3 to put NY back up 6 with 5 minutes left.
  • KAT — who left the game late in the 3rd with a minor leg injury and was said to be out for the rest of the game by the announcers — leapt off the bench and came back in with 4:49 left, replacing Robinson with NY up 110-105.
  • KAT fouled Wemby, who hit 2 free throws to pull the Spurs within 3, at 110-107 with 3:55 left.
  • But Jalen Brunson hit a CLutch floater to put NY up 5.

Hart Comes Up Big

Then Josh Hart — who had just entered the game for Kolek and seemed to injure his ankle on the prior play — as he was limping on the court — blocked De’Aaron Fox’s layup, then hit a HUGE 3 on the other end for a 115-107 lead.

San Antonio pressured Brunson, forcing a mid-court turnover. NY brought Kolek back in to provide ball-handling assistance.

And Kolek penetrated then hit OG with a terrific baseline pass for a 3 from the corner and NY was up 118-110 with 1:56 left. It was looking good for NY.

The two teams battled for the next minute — both teams missing shots — until San Antonio was forced to foul Kolek with 34 seconds left, down by 8. Kolek hit his free throws and NY was on its way to the 2025 NBA In-Season Tourney Title!

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401809839

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