Knicks win first NBA championship since 1973, beat Spurs 94-90 in Game 5

The New York Knicks won their first NBA championship in 53 years after beating the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

SAN ANTONIO — The New York Knicks are NBA champions.

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It is a sentence that has not been written in 53 years. It is a reality that was out of reach for the franchise from the late 1970s through the 1980s and felt oh-so-close in the 1990s, only to be laughably far away for much of the last quarter-century.

Yet, Saturday in Texas, a Knicks roster that had been assembled, taken apart and overhauled over the past six years ended more than a half-century of waiting by closing out San Antonio, 94-90, in five games to clinch New York’s third NBA title, and its first since 1973.