Jalen Brunson's legacy is forever: Knicks win first NBA title in 53 Years

I have been a Knicks fan for 27 years. I have watched this franchise be the punchline of every NBA conversation for the better part of three decades. The Knicks were the Cleveland Browns of basketball, a proud and passionate fanbase with nothing to show for it but heartbreak and "wait until next year."

Tonight, that all changed. The New York Knicks are NBA Champions.

And I still don't fully believe it.

Jalen Brunson just wanted it more

There is no more complicated way to say this: Jalen Brunson wanted this Finals more than anyone on that court. In a fourth quarter where the Knicks trailed and the moment was as big as it gets, Brunson attacked. He drew fouls, he converted at the line, he gave New York its first lead of the night with 3:40 remaining and dared San Antonio to take it back.

They couldn't.

Brunson was the unanimous ECF MVP, led the Finals MVP ladder wire-to-wire, and was the engine behind the largest comeback in NBA Finals history in Game 4, a 29-point second-half deficit erased in a 107-106 miracle capped by OG Anunoby's tip-in with 1.2 seconds left.

This is not just the greatest Knick of all time. Jalen Brunson belongs in the conversation of the greatest athletes in New York City history alongside Derek Jeter, Lawrence Taylor, and yes, Patrick Ewing. The difference between Brunson and Ewing? Brunson got the ring. In New York, that is the line between legend and immortal.

The NBA just got a new villain

I'll be honest, I liked Victor Wembanyama before this series. I genuinely did. The talent is undeniable, and his upside is as high as any player we've seen in a generation.

But after this series? He's the villain. The NBA didn't have a young LeBron James moment with Wemby where they could look to the future and smile; it was ruined by how he acted at his press interview with the words: 

"appreciate y’all, see y’all… never.”

Then he walked off the set. If that is what the NBA is protecting, then maybe they need to re-evaluate their investments.

Wembanyama had three blocks early in Game 5 that were, frankly, goaltends. All three. The referees let them go. Then later in the game, when he finally got called for goaltending, he turned to the officials with the kind of outrage that only someone who has been protected all season could muster. He was whining to the refs like they hadn't been gifting him calls all night long.

He's the NBA's Josh Allen. Once you get in his head and once the moment gets too big, he disappears. And tonight, Brunson got in his head early and never let him breathe.

Will Wembanyama be a problem for the Knicks for the next 15 years? Probably. But right now, he's a really skinny Yao Ming with a bad attitude, and Jalen Brunson just put him in a poster that will hang in Madison Square Garden forever.

The Knicks' title win is bigger than people realize

People who aren't Knicks fans don't fully understand what tonight means. This isn't just a championship. This is the Cleveland Browns winning the Super Bowl. This is decades of being laughed at, of being the example other franchises use to explain what failure looks like, of watching LeBron, Steph, and everyone else collect rings while New York sat empty-handed.

Nobody believed the Knicks could do this. The oddsmakers didn't. The national media didn't. San Antonio was a -220 favorite entering this series. And yet here we are.

One more thing, just for food for thought: the Knicks won an NBA Championship before GTA 6 came out.

As good as both of these teams are, don't be surprised if this is a rematch next season. Regardless of what happens with Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Eastern Conference landscape, this Knicks core is built to last, and the Spurs will be hungry. But the glory belongs to New York.

53 years. Worth every single second.