Knicks can clinch first NBA title since 1973 in Game 5

The Knicks arrived in San Antonio carrying the weight of a franchise drought that stretched back to 1973 and the chance to end it in Game 5. New York led the NBA Finals 3-1 entering Saturday’s game at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC, while the Spurs faced the harder task of extending the series and sending it back to New York for Game 6.

The series had already become a national event. Game 3 averaged 23.8 million viewers and peaked at 26.3 million, the largest audience for an NBA Finals Game 3 since 1998. Game 4 drew 20.9 million viewers and peaked at 23.2 million, while the NBA said that game generated 3 billion social media views and counting. Through the first four games, the Finals had reached 8 billion social views overall, far beyond the previous Finals record of 6.2 billion in 2025.

New York’s 107-106 victory in Game 4 turned the series sharply in the Knicks’ favor and supplied one of the most dramatic comebacks in Finals history. The Knicks erased a 29-point deficit, with OG Anunoby scoring the winner on a tip-in with 1.2 seconds left. Jalen Brunson led New York with 36 points, and Brunson and Anunoby became the first Knicks duo ever to each score at least 30 points in the same NBA Finals game.

San Antonio still controlled long stretches of Game 4 before the collapse. The Spurs scored 76 points in the first half, the most any team has ever scored on the road in the first half of an NBA Finals game, and led by 15 entering the fourth quarter. But they managed only 30 points after halftime, allowing New York to complete the largest comeback in NBA Finals history. ESPN Research and the Elias Sports Bureau said it was the biggest Finals rally since at least 1971 and only the third 20-point comeback in that span.

The Spurs entered Game 5 trying to survive with a young core led by Victor Wembanyama, who scored 32 points in the Game 3 win and has paced the series at 27.8 points per game. The Knicks, back in the Finals for the first time since 1999, had Jalen Brunson averaging 29.5 points per game and a chance to finish a run that would give New York its first championship in 53 years. If San Antonio could not force another game, Game 5 would be remembered as the night the city hosted a potential coronation for a marquee New York franchise.