Knicks one win from first NBA title since 1973

The city that has waited since 1973 for another NBA championship was suddenly living on the edge of history. The Knicks reached Game 5 of the Finals with a 3-1 lead over the San Antonio Spurs, and the mood around New York had shifted from hope to expectation.

That position came after one of the most dramatic wins in franchise history. In Game 4, the Knicks erased a 29-point deficit, the largest comeback in NBA Finals history, and won 107-106 when OG Anunoby scored on a late putback. It left New York one victory away from its first NBA title in 53 years and gave the fan base a tangible chance to turn decades of near misses into a long-awaited ending.

The series itself opened on Wednesday, June 3, 2026, on ABC, and the league has framed the matchup as a rare title opportunity for a franchise with enormous national weight. Game 5 was scheduled for Saturday, June 13, 2026, at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC, with Game 6 set for Tuesday, June 16, if necessary. For the Knicks, every detail now carried the stakes of a season that had already altered the franchise’s place in the league.

The run to this point also carried its own significance. New York reached the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999 by sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals, a breakthrough that restored the Knicks to the league’s biggest stage. In a postseason defined by Jalen Brunson’s leadership, OG Anunoby’s timing, and the pressure of Madison Square Garden, the franchise had forced itself back into a conversation it had missed for a generation.

The matchup with the Spurs, led by Victor Wembanyama and featuring De’Aaron Fox and Dylan Harper in the broader frame of the series, has turned into more than a championship chase. It has become a test of whether a team that has spent 53 years chasing the same prize can finally close the last gap, and whether New York’s sports identity can absorb a title that would reverberate far beyond the court.