The New York Knicks are the NBA champions this year, while the TNT Tropang 5G are still trying to retain their crown in the PBA Commissioner's Cup.
Knicks Clinch Title Over Spurs
In beating the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday, June 14, 2026, Philippine time, the Knicks completed an impressive 4-1 title-clincher in the best-of-seven championship, highlighted by a performance for the ages by Jalen Brunson.
Brunson has been New York's singular sparkplug the entire series, capping his unbelievable heroics in the Game 5 closer with a 45-point effort that put him alongside legends Michael Jordan, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bob Pettit as the only ones to score 45 or more in a deciding playoff battle.
"I could not have done it without my teammates guarding my back," said Brunson, humble and grateful to the very end.
Like in most of New York's previous three playoff victories, Brunson again fired the pivotal points in the Knicks' 94-90 Game 5 win on Sunday to run away with the Finals Most Valuable Player award, garnering all 11 first-place votes.
So good were Brunson and the Knicks that they overhauled the Spurs' double-digit leads in the first quarter of every game of the Finals to win all but Game 3.
But jokes resonated that the Game 3 loss happened because President Trump showed up at the Madison Square Garden, where he was lustily booed.
Game 4 virtually cost the Spurs the crown that they last won in 2014. The Spurs blew a 29-point margin to lose Game 4 by one, 107-106, on a tip-in by OG Anunoby after Brunson's three hit the front rim of the goal.
And in the 94-90 Game 5 victory, the Knicks erased a 16-point lead, leaning on Brunson's last-minute magical shots as New York ended its 53-year title drought since 1973.
But mistakes marred the Spurs' offense in the closing minutes of each of their four losses.
"Our errors, our mistakes, are punished so hard that we can't have ups and downs like this," said Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio's French superstar.
TNT Forces Game 7 in PBA Commissioner's Cup
As for TNT, it had Chris McCullough to thank after the towering import outdueled Ginebra's Justin Brownlee in Tropang G5's 98-90 win before a record crowd of 22,731 dominated by shrieking Gin fans.
McCullough fought back with 53 points and although Brownlee had 52, the TNT import grabbed 22 rebounds to Justin's measly 5 boards.
The win sent the series to a Game 7 decider on Wednesday at the MOA Arena in Pasay. As Abba puts it, the winner takes it all.
