New York Knicks Win NBA Cup As Fans Celebrate Like It’s 1973
52 years. That’s how it’s been since the New York Knicks brought an NBA championship to New York City.
Technically, that half-century drought ended last night when the Knicks defeated the San Antonio Spurs 124-113 to win the third annual NBA Cup.
However, anyone watching the game may have seen things going slightly differently with the Spurs going up early despite the Knicks evening things by the half.
The true test for New York came in the third quarter, when they were down 10 points and fought back.
“Being down 10 in the third and them kind of controlling the game throughout the game,” Jalen Brunson said after the game. “Us just finding a way. Going on the run in the fourth with the help of our bench, it was big-time.”
The Knicks finding their way meant outscoring the Spurs 35-19 in the fourth, and it wasn’t even Brunson who led the charge. Instead, it was OG Anunoby who finished the game with 28 points plus nine rebounds. Brunson was right behind him, though, scoring 25 and earning eight assists, which earned him NBA Cup MVP honors.
“Without Tyler Kolek, OG Anunoby, Mitchell Robinson and Jordan Clarkson, we don’t win this game,” Brunson said after the game, while accepting NBA Cup MVP honors.
There, Jordan Clarkson was lauded for some clutch threes; Karl-Anthony Towns had 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Mitchell Robinson’s 15-rebound performance while locking down Victor Wembanyama to 18 points. Plus, a star may have been born in Tyler Kolek.
As Adam Silver tries to inject new energy into the NBA’s long regular season, the Cup has broken up the monotony a bit with the incentive being $530,000 to the winning Knicks, while the Spurs settle for a decent $212,000.
But it also rewards teams who are on a hopefully good path to make deep playoff runs and gives them added motivation.
“That pressure is manufactured without you as a coach having to try to do it all the time,” Knicks head coach Mike Brown said. “When you’re able to have success doing it, it breeds confidence in everybody within the organization. That can propel you come the right time when you’re in that environment to be able to handle the pressure because you’ve already been through it.”
See how social media is reacting to the win below.
