Жэйлен Брансоны гайхалтай тоглолтоор Никс цувралыг 4-1 харьцаатай өндөрлүүлж, NBA-ийн аварга боллоо.
Никс 53 жилийн дараа түүхэн амжилтаа давтаж, NBA-ийн аваргаар тодорлоо. Тэд Сан Антонио Спөрстэй хийсэн цувралын таван тоглолт дараалан эхний үед 10-аас дээш оноогоор хоцорч, дөрөвдүгээр үед ч мөн хоцорч байсан ч эргэн ирэлт хийж чадсан юм.
Шийдвэрлэх тав дахь тоглолтод Жэйлен Брансон багийнхаа 94 онооны 45-ыг авч, жинхэнэ лидер гэдгээ харууллаа. Тэрээр хамгаалалтын шилдэг тоглогч Виктор Вэмбаньямагийн эсрэг оновчтой тоглолтоо гаргаж, Finals MVP хүртсэн юм.
Шинжээч Зак Харперийн дүгнэснээр, Никс залуу тоглогчдоос бүрдсэн Спөрсийн эсрэг туршлагаа ашиглаж чадсан нь ялалтын түлхүүр байв. Хэдийгээр Спөрст цувралд хожигдсон ч тэдний залуу бүрэлдэхүүн цаашид өндөр амжилт үзүүлэх боломжтой гэдгээ харууллаа.
Дэлгэрэнгүй эх сурвалжийг харах
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Good morning! Save your best for last today. Inside:
Drought Over: A historically gritty champion
Not only are the Knicks champs for the first time in 53 years, they’re probably the first thing you’re going to think of for a while when you hear the word “comeback.”
They won these NBA Finals 4-1 despite trailing San Antonio by at least 10 points in the first quarter of every game. They won it despite trailing in the fourth quarter in every game. By Game 5, it felt like no Spurs lead could ever be safe, and you felt that Spurs players knew it, too.
Jalen Brunson? Officially a legend. Forty-five points of his team’s 94 points in the clincher. Against a transcendent defensive player in Victor Wembanyama, the Finals MVP found the space time and again. Pure genius.
The dominant images of these finals will always be the OG Anunoby tip-in to cap a 29-point comeback in the second half of Game 4 and Knicks fans reveling on the streets outside the Garden, invigorated in a way most probably never imagined even a month ago.
As for the history: Sam Vecenie pointed out that Phil Jackson was a player on the last Knicks team to win a title. This was their first finals appearance this millennium.
Absolute madness.
Our Zach Harper, among the few who picked the Knicks to win this series, was in the building. We asked his level of surprise it went down like this:
💬 I’m not surprised the Knicks were able to leverage their experience against such a young team. But I am surprised that all five games followed nearly the exact same pattern. The Knicks know who they are and that’s why they won.
No doubt the Spurs will wonder what happened, and why it happened four times. It probably won’t be much solace that they basically skipped a grade to get here, winning so soon in the growth of their young core. But it’s worth keeping that perspective. They’ll be back.
From our coverage:
Vroom
F1’s latest all-time superstar?
I knew Kimi Antonelli was having a great season, because there’s not a ton of nuance in a Formula 1 driver winning five of the season’s first six races. But this dispatch from our Formula 1 newsletter, Prime Tire, really got my attention: The Mercedes driver has had the fastest lap on 44 percent of all laps in F1 this season, through six grands prix. Antonelli’s teammate, George Russell, is next at 15 percent. This has led to a level of despondence elsewhere on the grid.
Antonelli has a 66-point lead in the drivers’ championship. He’s all of 19 years old. Only Max Verstappen, who won at 18 in 2016, has won a race at a younger age. The Italian is having “one of the greatest campaigns in modern F1 history,” our crew says, and that seems impossible to argue against.
If you are a casual F1 fan, you may be a little taken aback, because the sport has had a lot of historic champions in recent years. Lewis Hamilton (who, by the way, is second behind Antonelli entering today’s Barcelona Grand Prix) is tied with Michael Schumacher at a record count of seven world championships. Verstappen took the mantle from Hamilton in 2021 and ripped off four in a row, looking every bit that dominant, and then he was similarly scary in a just-short comeback effort against Lando Norris last year.
Now the sport might have yet another guy like this. Are smart F1 people looking at Antonelli as a talented young driver who’s getting the most out of a great car, or as a future legend who’s already starting to build a Verstappen- or Hamilton-type career? Put another way, how wild should we be going about Antonelli? I asked Patrick:
💬 Antonelli is passing two tests that all the greats have to pass. The first is beating your teammate. The garage next to yours is where legends separate themselves from very good drivers, and Antonelli is doing it to Russell, the preseason favorite and one of the best drivers on the grid. The second test is dominance, which Antonelli is covering with his consistent fastest laps.
The car is putting him at the front, sure. And it’s still early! We’ve only raced six times. But if you’re asking whether Antonelli has the ingredients to become his generation’s Verstappen or Hamilton, the answer is yes.
My word. The Barcelona Grand Prix starts at 9 a.m. ET today on Apple TV.
News to Know
Caean Couto / Imagn Images
Don’t sleep on Morocco
Do we grieve a World Cup day where two straight games ended in 1-1 ties? Not at all, and not just because it allows us to honor one of the great “Simpsons” openers ever! “Ties? You bet!” The headliner was Brazil-Morocco, an early clash of heavyweights. Yes, you read that right: Morocco is a heavyweight, reaching the semis in the last World Cup, and it was no great surprise they drew with mighty Brazil 1-1 (takeaways here) or that they produced a moment like this:
Filthy. Notable: After this tie, both Brazil and Morocco are at over 80 percent likely to advance per our model. Ties? You bet!
If you want more World Cup news, make sure to sign up for our World Cup Briefing.
More News
- Cavs star James Harden was arrested and faces a misdemeanor charge of unlawfully carrying a gun. Details here.
- USMNT World Cup ticket prices are soaring after the team’s dominant victory in the opener. Get-in price against Australia is a cool $1,800.
- More bad injury news for the Yankees: Slugger Giancarlo Stanton tweaked his calf running the bases and his return could be delayed.
- Shohei Ohtani did return for the Dodgers after missing a game with a knee issue. He homered on the second pitch he saw …
- … while Yoshinobu Yamamoto flirted with a perfecto and fell just short of a new MLB record thanks to a Mookie Betts error. “He’s special.”
- Vegas goalie Carter Hart spoke about those “no means no” chants from Carolina fans. His comments here.
- Former All-Pro 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith died at 36. Full story.
Watch Guide
📺 World Cup: Germany vs. Curacao
1 p.m. ET on Fox
The Germans are colossal favorites, but a cool thing about this expanded format (48 teams, up from 32) is that this tournament has more room than usual for first-time participants. Enter Curacao for its World Cup debut, as the smallest nation by population to ever reach a World Cup. It’s highly unlikely, but can you imagine? Here’s the full Group E tactical guide, also featuring plenty of commentary on Ecuador and Ivory Coast, who play at 7 p.m.
📺 MLB: Cubs at Giants
3 p.m. ET on ABC
Logan Webb starts for the Giants. This is my chance to link back to this great Tyler Kepner story about why so few pitchers other than Webb (and a few others) work deep into games anymore.
📺 NHL: Hurricanes at Golden Knights
8 p.m. ET on ABC
Vegas needs two straight wins against a Carolina team that feels like it’s hit its stride. The first few games alone made this a fantastic final. If it goes seven, it’s an all-timer.
Get tickets to games like this here.
Pulse Picks
Isaac Wasserman/NCAA Photos via Getty Images
Most-shared features on The Athletic this week:
- A team-by-team guide to the World Cup: What to expect and who to watch
- Inside the making of Norway’s “Viking” photo for World Cup
- Meet the Spurs nuns: Inside the basketball-loving world of the Salesian Sisters
- The Chicago mayor who said ‘no’ to the World Cup: “The numbers don’t work”
- Ranking the teams at the 2026 World Cup
Meet Ja’Kobe Tharp, the American college phenom who just became the 110-meter hurdles world record holder.
The story behind that Knicks fan’s perfect “Seinfeld” tweet that got Larry David’s attention.
I guess I’ll stay on theme with my ongoing interest in the Reckless Ben vs. Bricks and Minifigs saga. The company has now gotten a temporary restraining order against the YouTuber, and sued the original owner of the Lego for over $1 million. For an independent third-party investigation / catch-up, I recommend this one. — Levi Weaver
Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Pele or Maradona? Our team looked into who has the most valuable collectibles.
It’s no-cook dinner weather, and this corn and black bean salad is delicious, leftovers-friendly and comes together in literally three minutes if you just use canned corn. — Torrey Hart
Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: The Seahawks’ Super Bowl rings, with their special buttons and all.
📫 That’s all for now! Say hello at thepulse@theathletic.com, and check out our other newsletters.
