The New York Knicks have won their first championship since 1973 and just the third in franchise history with a 94-90 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. It caps one of the most impressive postseason runs in history and puts to bed the notion that small point guards — at least ones not named Stephen Curry — can’t lead teams to a title in the modern NBA.
Jalen Brunson has done just that, finishing off the Spurs with a 45-point masterpiece en route to being named Finals MVP. Brunson, who averaged 32.6 points per game for the series, becomes just the fourth player listed at 6-foot-2 or shorter to win Finals MVP, joining Curry, Isiah Thomas and Tony Parker.
Brunson, who was selected in the second round at No. 33 in 2018, is also the second-lowest drafted player to win Finals MVP, trailing only Nikola Jokic, who was taken No. 41 overall.
The word underdog gets thrown around a lot in sports, but Brunson truly epitomizes the word. He was not supposed to be anywhere near this kind of player, let alone on this kind of stage. He was considered too short. Not athletic enough. A defensive liability. When the Knicks signed him to a four-year, $104 million contract in the summer of 2022, he was regarded as a consolation prize, if not an outright disappointment, after the franchise had been striking out on true big-name stars for years.
No LeBron James in 2010. The Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire connection never really materialized. No Kevin Durant or Kyrie Irving in 2019. Looking back, getting Brunson, let alone on that kind of contract, was indisputably one of the greatest signings in NBA history.
Brunson will be a New York hero for the rest of time, and he earned every bit of the status. What a player. What a team. What a playoff run and what a Finals. It’s storybook stuff, and no player embodies the grit and heart of the city and fanbase he represents more than Brunson.
