Nova Knicks cement their legend with NBA title: Brothers for life

SAN ANTONIO — Josh Hart missed the last celebration. Jalen Brunson makes a point of needling his friend at every opportunity, reminding the world that Hart was no longer on Villanova when Brunson and Mikal Bridges left San Antonio with their second national championship in three years.But eight years later, the college teammates became legends together again, leading the Knicks to their first championship in 53 years with a 94-90 win over the Spurs in Game 5 of the NBA Finals at Frost Bank Center.They are the first trio of teammates to win an NCAA title (2016) and an NBA title together.“Those are my brothers for life,” Hart said.

“We have a bond that’ll never be broken.We won a championship together in college, but this one obviously takes the cake. “We’ve been built for this moment.

We’ve all been forged in the fire … Coach [Jay] Wright helped us be cut from a different cloth.No matter the moment, it’s never too big for us.”While Jalen Brunson earned NBA Finals MVP with an iconic 45-point performance, Hart (13 points, 11 rebounds) and Bridges (14 points, four assists) supported the superstar as the second and third-leading scorers. As recently as four years ago, these New York legends played elsewhere.Brunson arrived in the summer of 2022, an undersized and supposedly overpaid free agent signing.

Hart was on his third team in six seasons, having never reached the postseason when he was traded to the Knicks on Feb.8, 2023, leaving Brunson in disbelief, reacting like he won the lottery — “Oh s–t! Yes!” — raising his arms in triumph. Brunson knew the Knicks — then without a playoff series win in a decade — were getting someone whose selflessness would’ve fit with the franchise in 1973, whose passion and toughness would’ve blended seamlessly in 1993.Someone who found where he always belonged.“I had so much instability, traded, different coaches, and I found a home in New York and they embraced me,” Hart said.

“This ...