Knicks in five and the NBA is alive: New York’s era-defining title is a win for the believers

For a half century, New York was the center of the universe but the joke of the NBA. In these glamour-filled finals, the franchise finally got its momentThe New York Knicks had been here before. As Jalen Brunson and his band of not-so-merry men stood at the top of this year’s NBA finals, they confronted not just the San Antonio Spurs, their foe on the court, but the very idea of what the Knicks themselves – as a team, as a franchise, as a symbol of New York City – could be. The team’s run to las...