Knicks' NBA championship full of record-setting achievements
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson holds the MVP trophy after the Knicks defeated the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Saturday in San Antonio. Credit: AP/Ross D. Franklin
These Knicks will be celebrated forever in New York after dominating their way to an NBA title, their first since 1973.
Their postseason run will be remembered as one of the best in basketball history, too.
They clinched the championship with a 94-90 win in Game 5 in San Antonio on Saturday night. But when NBA fans look back at the record book years from now, the 2025-26 Knicks — at least statistically — will be etched alongside some of the great champions in the league’s history.
Here’s a look at some of the records that unanimous Finals MVP Jalen Brunson and the Knicks either set or approached in the playoffs.
CAPTAIN CLUTCH
Brunson cemented himself as one of the best clutch playoff scorers in NBA history. He averaged 11.2 points in the fourth quarter of Finals games, surpassing Allen Iverson for the most in the play-by-play era (since 1997), according to The Associated Press’ Josh Dubow. Since joining the Knicks ahead of the 2022-23 season, Brunson’s 508 postseason points in the fourth quarter or overtime are by far the most in the NBA, with Nikola Jokic (339) a distant second.
“He is generationally great offensively,” Landry Shamet said.
With 45 points Saturday night, Brunson set the Knicks’ NBA Finals single-game scoring record — surpassing Willis Reed’s 38 points in Game 3 in 1970 — and tied Michael Jordan (1998) for the most points in a road win that clinched an NBA title. He became the fourth player in NBA history to score at least 45 in a Finals-clinching game, joining Bob Pettit (50 in 1958), Giannis Antetokounmpo (50 in 2021) and Jordan (45 in 1998). His 45 points were the most in an NBA Finals game since Stephen Curry had 43 in 2022, according to Dubow.
“I see a man that's grown up and took the challenge of being in the biggest market in the world, being with a team that hasn't made it to the NBA Finals in 27 years and hasn't won in [53] years, and knowing that he could do it,” said Karl-Anthony Towns, who recorded a plus-minus of plus-258 this postseason, the best in the play-by-play era, according to Dubow.
Brunson is the fourth player listed at 6-2 or shorter to win Finals MVP, joining Curry (2022), Tony Parker (2007) and Isiah Thomas (1990).
POINT DIFFERENTIAL
The Knicks finished the postseason with a plus-283 point differential, by far the highest mark in NBA history. They surpassed 2017 Golden State, which had a plus-230 point differential and is considered one of the greatest teams in NBA history with Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. The Knicks won by double digits in 12 of their 19 postseason games, tied for the most ever in a postseason, according to Dubow.
AWAY THEY GO!
The Knicks arguably were the best road playoff team in NBA history and finished the postseason with nine consecutive road wins, setting the NBA record for the longest road winning streak in a single postseason. They tied the 1995 Rockets for the most road wins in a single postseason (nine) and seven other teams for the most road wins in an NBA Finals (three). Their 9-1 playoff road record is the second best among NBA champions, behind only the 2001 Lakers, who went 8-0 away from home.
COMEBACK KINGS
If you think every Knicks win over the Spurs followed a similar script, you’re right. The Knicks became the first team since 1971 to win the NBA Finals after trailing by at least 10 points in every game of the series. According to ESPN Insights/Elias Sports Bureau, the Knicks led for only 23.6% of the time in the series, by far the lowest percentage of time spent leading by an NBA champion since 1971.
According to Dubow, they are the second team in the play-by-play era to rally from at least 10 points down to win four games in a playoff series, the other being the 2024 Knicks.
They came back from first-quarter deficits ranging from 10 to 21 points in each of their four victories against the Spurs. They trailed by 14 in the third quarter of Game 1, 12 in the second quarter of Game 2, 29 in the third quarter (and 20 in the fourth quarter) of Game 4 and 16 in the second quarter of Game 5.
'NOVA KNICKS
It’s been well-documented that Brunson, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart won the 2016 national title together at Villanova; Brunson and Bridges won another in 2018. Now they are the first teammate trio to win both an NCAA title and an NBA title, according to ESPN Insights. They totaled 72 points Saturday, the most in an NBA Finals game by players on one team from the same college, according to Dubow.
“I feel like definitely Coach [Jay] Wright helped us be cut from a different cloth,” Hart said. “No matter what the moment is, it's never too big for us. That's what we do. We were champions before at the college level and now we're champions as brothers at the ultimate level.”
WHAT DROUGHT?
The Knicks’ 53-year gap between championships is the longest in NBA history. Only seven teams in the history of the “Big Four” sports (NBA, MLB, NFL and NHL) have gone longer between two titles, according to Dubow. (The Jets’ Super Bowl-winning season was 58 years ago, if anyone’s curious.)
The Knicks gave New York its first title in the Big Four sports since the Giants won Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5, 2012 – 5,242 days before Saturday. Other New York titles since then include the WNBA’s Liberty (2024), the NWSL’s Gotham FC (2025, 2023) and MLS’ New York City FC (2021).
Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
