Jalen Brunson Drops 45 in Game 5 to Lock Up Finals MVP. The Knicks Never Looked Back.
Jalen Brunson scored 45 points in the closeout game of the NBA Finals. He set a Knicks record for points in a Finals game. He locked up Finals MVP. And he ended 53 years of waiting in New York basketball.
The Knicks beat the Spurs 119-104 in Game 5. The series ended 4-1. Brunson was unstoppable. He hit nine of his first 12 shots. He took over every fourth quarter of the series. He answered every San Antonio run with a personal one.
The Bill Russell trophy ceremony came at center court. Adam Silver handed it over. Brunson stood there with his family. His dad Rick was right next to him, the same Rick Brunson who had been an NBA journeyman two decades earlier. The full circle was perfect.
The 45-point Game 5 was the kind of performance that defines a career. Brunson hit pull-up threes. He got to his floater. He drew fouls. He made the right pass when San Antonio doubled. He did not commit a turnover until the third quarter.
Victor Wembanyama was on the other side. The Spurs’ superstar is going to win MVPs for the next decade. He had 32 points and 16 rebounds in Game 5. It did not matter. Brunson was the better player in the series.
This was the moment the Knicks have been chasing since the Patrick Ewing era. Donnie Walsh built the foundation. Phil Jackson stalled it out. Leon Rose finished the job by trading for Brunson, then Mikal Bridges, then Karl-Anthony Towns. The team Rose constructed is now NBA champion.
Brunson averaged 31 points, eight assists, and four rebounds in the Finals. He shot 49 percent from the floor and 41 percent from three. Those are All-NBA First Team Finals numbers.
The arc of his career is remarkable. He went second round to the Mavericks in 2018. He was Luka Doncic’s backup. He left in 2022 for the Knicks because he wanted to be the lead guard. He has lived up to that bet every single year.
Tom Thibodeau coached him perfectly. Brunson averaged 38 minutes a game in the Finals. He never asked for a break. The Knicks ran every late-game possession through him. He delivered every single time.
This title also makes Brunson untouchable in the next CBA cycle. He signed a team-friendly extension last summer that locks him in through 2029 at a number that is now wildly below market. The Knicks have their franchise player on the league’s most cap-efficient deal.
The full Knicks parade is happening today through Manhattan. The Empire State Building is lit up orange and blue. The city has not had a sports moment like this in years.
Jalen Brunson did this. The 6-foot-1 guard from Villanova that everyone said was too small. The point guard people doubted as a closer. He went to New York and gave the city its biggest moment in five decades.
The Finals MVP is his. The trophy is the Knicks’. The story is forever.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
