It's been a long time coming for New York basketball fans. The Knicks hadn't won an NBA championship since 1973, and when they finally got it done Saturday night holding off a determined San Antonio Spurs squad in Game 5 the city went into full celebration mode. The final score was 94–90, a tighter finish than many expected given how the series had unfolded.
President Donald Trump was quick to join the party online. On Truth Social, he sent his congratulations to Knicks owner Jim Dolan and the entire organization, heaping praise on the team's postseason performance. He described the playoff run in glowing terms, calling the last four wins some of the most extraordinary basketball he'd ever seen. He also used the moment to spotlight Jalen Brunson by name, along with Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, and Mitchell Robinson adding his signature "Make America Great Again" sign-off to cap it all off.
The message was celebratory in tone, but the context made it a little more interesting. Just days earlier, Trump had been shown on the jumbotron at MSG during Game 3, and the home crowd didn't exactly roll out the welcome mat he was met with loud booing from the New York faithful. The Knicks lost that game to the Spurs 115–111, the only defeat they suffered in the entire series.
A Genuine Fan or Just Good Timing?
"What makes sports so special, especially when there's so much that divides people, is it's something that we have in common," Silver said. He went on to paint a picture of Trump as a longtime fixture around the Knicks organization attending drafts, sitting courtside, and even appearing in an NBA promotional segment years ago. "He was here all the time," Silver said plainly. "He's a genuine Knicks fan."
Whether fans in the Garden agreed with that assessment is another story. But the postgame social media post, at least, was enthusiastic enough to leave little doubt that Trump was invested in the outcome.
Brunson's Masterclass and a Record-Breaking Night
The real story of the Finals, though, belonged to Jalen Brunson. New York trailed by as many as 29 points in Game 4 before Brunson and his teammates refused to go quietly they clawed all the way back and eventually pushed the series to a decisive fifth game.
Then in Game 5, Brunson delivered one of the great Finals performances in recent memory. His 45-point outing under pressure, with the championship on the line, put him alongside Michael Jordan in the history books making him just the second guard ever to score 45 or more points in a series-clinching game. The Finals MVP trophy was a formality after that.
The Spurs, for their part, gave the Knicks everything they had. San Antonio's young roster built double-digit leads in multiple games, and there were stretches where it genuinely looked like the series could slip away from New York. But this Knicks team kept finding ways to come back a resilience that will define how this title run is remembered for years to come.
Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs will learn from this. They're a young team with plenty of runway ahead. But right now, the crown belongs to New York and yes, even the President is celebrating.
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