After decades of heartbreak, near misses and disappointment, the New York Knicks captured their first NBA championship since 1973 with a 94-90 victory over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Saturday night.
And fittingly for a team that built its postseason identity on resilience, New York had to rally one more time to get there.
The Spurs held a 10-point lead midway through the fourth quarter and appeared poised to extend the series. Instead, the Knicks delivered another late surge, closing the game in dominant fashion to complete one of the most impressive playoff runs in league history.
Head coach Mike Brown admitted the magnitude of the moment didn’t fully register immediately.
“I couldn’t believe it, that was the first thing,” Brown said. “It was surreal. I couldn’t believe that it was happening. And I am so tired. I mean, I’m gassed. And you know, just this stuff is harder than what you think. And you know, you have to have great assistants. You have to have great players, but I was gassed.”
Brown’s championship run comes just one year after he was hired following a lengthy coaching search by the organization.
“I’ve been around a long time. This business is just as crazy as any other business,” Brown said. “I’m pretty good at trying to control what I can control. I had zero control over who else was interviewing, who was denied permission. I had zero control over that.”
The title was equally meaningful for Josh Hart, one of the emotional leaders of the team and a player who has experienced plenty of uncertainty throughout his NBA career.
“The one thing, no matter what I’ve always said, I want to be a winner. I want to win a championship at the highest level,” Hart said. “I’ve been doubted so many times — traded, had so much instability, had, what, seven, eight different head coaches. I found a home in New York, and they embraced me for the person that I am, the player that I am.”
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