Knicks chase first title since 1973 in Game 5 vs. Spurs

The Knicks carried New York’s longest title wait in half a century into Game 5, one win from a third NBA championship and their first since 1973. In San Antonio, the Spurs had the chance to push the Finals back to Madison Square Garden, but the pressure sat squarely on New York after a 3-1 series lead and a Game 4 finish that shifted the entire conversation around the series.

Game 5 was set for Saturday night at 8:30 p.m. Eastern on ABC, with Jalen Brunson and the Knicks trying to close out a series that had already become one of the league’s biggest stages of the year. A Knicks win would end the drought that has defined the franchise since 1973. A Spurs victory would extend the Finals to Game 6 in New York on Tuesday night and keep alive San Antonio’s pursuit of a sixth NBA title.

The stakes hardened after Game 4, when New York erased a 29-point deficit and beat the Spurs 107-106 on OG Anunoby’s tip-in with 1.2 seconds left. That comeback was the largest in NBA Finals history, and it left the Knicks one win from a championship that has eluded generations of fans. Knicks coach Mike Brown called it “the most iconic shot in the history of New York basketball.”

The matchup also revived a Finals rivalry that had been dormant since 1999. The Knicks and Spurs met again 27 years later in a series that began on June 3 and carried the possibility of a Game 7 on June 19. For New York, the story was no longer just about one night in San Antonio. It was about whether a franchise-defining rebound had begun, or whether the biggest comeback in Finals history would become a fleeting high point before the pressure turned back on the Knicks in Game 6.

Interest matched the stakes. Game 4 averaged 20.9 million viewers on ABC, the largest NBA Finals Game 4 audience since 1998, and peaked at 23.2 million viewers at 11:15 p.m. Eastern. Through the first four games, the Spurs-Knicks Finals averaged 19.6 million viewers across ABC and ESPN, underlining how quickly a long-awaited Knicks run had become a national event.