The New York Knicks have won their first NBA title since 1973, defeating the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Saturday night. Jalen Brunson scored 45 points, including 13 straight for New York in the fourth quarter, to lead the Knicks to victory.

Historic Comeback

The Knicks won the series 4-1, rallying from double-digit deficits in all four of those victories. The deficit was 16 on Saturday night, but Brunson and the Knicks were never fazed. Brunson set a Knicks record for points in a finals game, surpassing the previous record of 38 points set by Willis Reed against the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3 of the 1970 series.

Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart, the other two parts of the “Nova Knicks” trio that also includes Brunson, combined to score 27 points. Bridges had 14 points, while Hart had 13 points. The Knicks improved to 4-0 in closeout opportunities this season, winning them all on the road.

The game followed the same script as the others in the series, with the Spurs taking a double-digit lead in the first quarter and then frittering most of it away in the second quarter. The Spurs became the first team in the play-by-play era to lead five finals games by 10 points or more in first quarters.

Knicks’ Resilience

The Knicks simply could not make a shot, missing on 16 of their first 18 tries and each of their first 11 two-point attempts. However, they came back strong, with a 22-9 run in the second quarter getting New York within three points. Brunson won NCAA crowns twice with Villanova, both in Texas, and this NBA title was surely the sweetest of all.

Original reporting: NBC Connecticut (Hartford) — read the source article.