San Antonio Spurs vs New York Knicks: Knicks rally again, win first NBA championship since 1973

After Dylan Harper missed two free throws, the second intentionally, OG Anunoby headed to the foul line with the Knicks leading by three with 7.7 seconds remaining.

Anunoby missed the first but made the second, giving New York a 94-90 lead. Victor Wembanyama’s three-point attempt missed the mark, but it would not have mattered if he made it.

Final score: 94-90, and the Knicks have won their first NBA title since 1973.

The Knicks managed to remain within striking distance, and Jalen Brunson has carried the workload offensively.

The point guard has scored 26 of his 43 points after halftime, and the Knicks now lead by one, 86-85, with 3:15 remaining. And that’s with Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby on the bench with five fouls apiece.

Landry Shamet went down with an apparent right knee injury after landing awkwardly on a made layup during the fourth quarter.

While he did remain in the game in the immediate aftermath of the injury, even attempting a three-pointer, Shamet had to give a foul to be subbed out.

His availability for the remainder of Game 5 is unknown, with the Knicks trailing 83-77 with 7:14 remaining.

The Spurs managed to extend their lead in the third quarter, outscoring the Knicks 30-28 to take a 72-65 advantage into the final frame.

Dylan Harper, who has played more like a savvy veteran than the rookie that he is, scored 10 of his team-high 21 points in the third quarter. Victor Wembanyama added seven points for San Antonio, which needs a win to extend the series.

Jalen Brunson continues to lead the way offensively for the Knicks, and he scored 14 points in the third quarter alone. Mikal Bridges added five points, but New York watched Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby pick up their fourth personal fouls during the frame.

Neither has offered much offensively thus far, shooting a combined 3-of-15 from the field; both have to be better if the Knicks are to end the series tonight.

We may have an officiating controversy in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

After releasing a three-pointer, Jalen Brunson landed on Victor Wembanyama’s left foot and rolled his ankle. While the Knicks’ star remained on the floor, San Antonio made a three on the other end to push its lead back out to nine, 62-53.

No foul was called, prompting Brunson and the Knicks’ bench to scream at the officials. With Wembanyama having three flagrant-foul points, a postgame review that upgrades the play would rule him out for Game 6 if it needs to be played.

After falling behind by 10 early in the third quarter, the Knicks have halved the deficit. A driving OG Anunoby layup in traffic pulled New York to within five, 55-50, with 6:27 remaining while Victor Wembanyama rested on the bench.

Karl-Anthony Towns picking up his fourth foul 15 seconds into the third led to Mitchell Robinson entering the lineup, and Ariel Hukporti played briefly when Robinson needed a breather.

However, Hukporti would be replaced by Landry Shamet as New York went without a center. With Luke Kornet on the floor for San Antonio instead of Wembanyama, the Knicks can get away with that approach.

Jalen Brunson leads all scorers with 22 points, while Wembanyama and Julian Champagnie lead San Antonio with 14 apiece.

The worst-case scenario for the Knicks occurred early in the third quarter, when Karl-Anthony Towns was called for his fourth personal foul with 11:45 remaining.

The Knicks’ center was pulled from the game immediately, with Mitchell Robinson being the replacement. While Robinson can provide some value as a rebounder and defender, Towns’ absence leaves a massive hole offensively.

The Spurs have pushed their lead out to 10 points, 51-41, with just over nine minutes remaining in the third quarter.

With their season on the line in Game 5, the Spurs once again outplayed the Knicks in the first quarter. However, after taking a 31-15 lead during the second, San Antonio goes into the locker room leading by five, 42-37.

Jalen Brunson is the reason why the Knicks remain within striking distance, as he scored 16 first-half points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field. Mikal Bridges scored all eight of his points in the second quarter, but the Knicks have received only two points from Karl-Anthony Towns.

New York received a boost in the form of a five-point play, which began with Josh Hart finishing through a De’Aaron Fox flagrant foul.

For San Antonio, Dylan Harper leads the way with 11 points. Victor Wembanyama (nine points) and Julian Champagnie (eight) also put up solid numbers in the first half. A Devin Vassell fadeaway as time expired pushed the home team’s lead out to five going into halftime.

Towns has three personal fouls while Wembanyama has two, and the fouls are something to watch early in the third quarter. While the Knicks have some room to work with, given their 3-1 series lead, Towns picking up his fourth early in the third quarter would put them in a bad spot.

Wemby sat out the final 2:34 of the second quarter, so it’s possible that he’s asked to play the entire second half with the Spurs’ season on the line.

The Knicks are dealing with foul trouble as the first half draws to a close. Karl-Anthony Towns picked up his third personal foul, leaving New York’s Mike Brown with a decision to make.

Brown decided to go to his bench, with Mitchell Robinson replacing the foul-plagued starter. Interestingly, San Antonio’s Mitch Johnson did the same, resting Victor Wembanyama. That factored into the Knicks closing the gap between the two teams after trailing by as much as 16.

The Knicks have pulled to within six, 38-32, as Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges have gotten untracked. While the latter is 2-for-3 from beyond the arc, the former has scored 8 points on 3-for-5 shooting in the second quarter alone.

As the Knicks continue to struggle offensively, they also received bad news via video review during the second quarter of Game 5.

A foul initially called on Victor Wembanyama was overturned, with Karl-Anthony Towns instead being whistled for hooking the Spurs’ center’s arm. As a result, Towns has two fouls while Wembanyama has one.

San Antonio has extended its lead to 16, 31-15, as New York continues to struggle offensively. The Knicks are now shooting 5-of-26 from the field.

Given the way in which the first four games of the NBA Finals played out, it should not be a surprise that San Antonio got off to a better start than the Knicks.

For the fifth time in as many games, the Spurs held a double-digit lead during the first quarter. They ended the frame with a 23-13 lead, with Dylan Harper (seven points) and Victor Wembanyama (six) leading the way offensively.

New York, which shot 1-of-13 from inside the arc, was led offensively by Jalen Brunson (eight points) and OG Anunoby (five). No other Knicks player has scored a point thus far, with Karl-Anthony Towns off to an 0-of-3 start from the field.

San Antonio outscored New York 7-2 out of the first media timeout, extending its lead to 18-10 with 1:40 remaining in the first quarter.

The Spurs have made Jalen Brunson work for everything offensively, and rookie Dylan Harper has once again been impactful on both ends of the floor. In his first stint, the Spurs guard has contributed seven points (3-of-3 FGs), one rebound, one assist and one three-pointer.

San Antonio went on a 7-0 run before a Brunson fadeaway jumper, making it five consecutive games in which they’ve held a double-digit lead in the first quarter.

Given what’s on the line in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, it’s unsurprising that the Knicks and Spurs appeared to come out tight. New York is shooting just 2-of-12 from the field, with San Antonio slightly better at 4-of-10.

The Spurs took an 11-8 lead into the first media timeout, with Victor Wembanyama already responsible for six points, three rebounds and three blocked shots.

One game removed from combining to score 69 points, OG Anunoby (five points) and Jalen Brunson (three) are responsible for all of New York’s scoring. Wembanyama and Karl-Anthony Towns have already been called for one foul; whichever one picks up their second first could be the first major turning point in Game 5.

The New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs will stick with their usual starting lineups for Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

New York, which has started slowly in each of the first four games, will go with Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns. The Knicks, who are one win away from their first NBA title since 1973, won each of their first three series clinchers this postseason by at least 30 points.

San Antonio counters with De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, Julian Champagnie and Victor Wembanyama. This is the sixth NBA Finals Game 5 that the Spurs have played in their franchise history, and they won each of the first five.

They’ll need to extend that run to push this series back to New York for a Game 6 on Tuesday night.

Saturday’s Game 5 of the 2026 NBA Finals will mark the sixth Game 5 that the San Antonio Spurs have played in their Finals history. And if the past is a sign of what’s to come, Spurs fans may be able to breathe easy.

San Antonio is 5-0 in its previous NBA Finals Game 5s, including a series clincher against the Knicks in the 1999 NBA Finals. Their most recent NBA Finals Game 5 victory was the series clincher against the Miami Heat in 2014.

Of the five Game 5 NBA Finals wins, four would result in the Spurs going on to win the title. The lone exception was the 2013 NBA Finals, as the Heat went on to win Games 6 and 7 to erase a 3-2 series deficit.

Spurs backup center Luke Kornet is available for Saturday’s game after initially being listed as questionable due to an illness.

While the 7-foot-1 Kornet has served as Victor Wembanyama’s backup, his playing time has decreased as the NBA Finals have progressed. After playing 10 minutes in Game 1, Kornet totaled 21 minutes in Games 2, 3 and 4, most recently playing four minutes on Wednesday night.

Given how tired Wembanyama looked late in Game 4, the Spurs may look to give Kornet a few more minutes in the first half to ensure their star is fresh down the stretch.

Not long after the San Antonio Spurs arrived at Frost Bank Arena ahead of Saturday’s Game 5 of the NBA Finals, the New York Knicks have done the same. At stake for the Eastern Conference champions is the franchise’s first NBA championship since 1973.

On Wednesday, the Knicks erased a 29-point second-half deficit to win by a final score of 107-106, setting a record for the largest comeback in NBA Finals history. This was also the second time in these playoffs that New York came back from at least 22 points down, having done so in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Cavaliers.

Only once in NBA Finals history has a team erased a 3-1 deficit to win the series, with the Cleveland Cavaliers doing so in 2016. The San Antonio Spurs will look to take the first step towards becoming the second with a win in Game 5 on Saturday night, and the key players have begun to arrive at Frost Bank Arena in San Antonio.

Victor Wembanyama tallied 24 points and 13 rebounds in Game 4, but did so while shooting 9-of-25 from the field. Also, he logged 44 minutes, the most in a game for him since the opener of the Western Conference Finals. He appeared to be a bit fatigued during Wednesday’s fourth quarter, and the hope is that the extra day off ahead of Game 5 will pay dividends for the 7-foot-4 phenom.

With the road team having won the first three games of the 2026 NBA Finals, that streak appeared likely to extend to four on Wednesday night. The Spurs came out of the gates scalding hot, setting an NBA Finals record with 14 made three-pointers in the first half.

That hot shooting would allow San Antonio to take a 76-49 lead into the intermission, and things would only get worse for the Knicks early in the third quarter. The Spurs extended their lead to 29 on a De’Aaron Fox jumper with 9:40 remaining in the period.

However, as has been the case on multiple occasions in recent playoff runs, the Knicks refused to roll over. That Fox shot was immediately followed by a 13-0 New York run, and they would go into the final quarter trailing by 15, 90-75.

The final frame was a continuation of that run, with the Spurs settling for jumpers while the Knicks relied on ball and player movement. Jose Alvarado replacing Mikal Bridges in the closing lineup gave the Knicks an additional ball-handler, which opened things up for Jalen Brunson and the offense as a whole.

Brunson scored nine of his game-high 36 points in the fourth quarter, while OG Anunoby capped his 33-point night with an eight-point fourth. And Anunoby’s tip-in of a Brunson missed three with 1.2 seconds remaining gave the Knicks the lead. That one-point edge was preserved when Karl-Anthony Towns’ deflection of the ensuing inbounds pass led to San Antonio’s Stephon Castle not getting off a shot before time expired.

Final score: 107-106 in what is the biggest comeback in an NBA Finals game.