Key events
Knicks 13-17 Spurs, 6:44, 1st quarter: Hart tries to drive the baseline against Wemby but runs out of room and steps out.
Wemby gets the ball about 800 feet away from the basket, jumps about one foot forward and dunks.
Brunson answers with a 3. The stars have come out early tonight.
Knicks 10-13 Spurs, 8:02, 1st quarter: Champagnie had a hot streak behind the arc in Game 1. The Spurs get him started with an open look that he hits easily.
Knicks lose the ball, and Castle drives for the tough shot.
Anunoby answers with a nifty move past Wemby and then shielding the big man away for a reverse layup.
Champanie again hits a 3. Anunoby hits one in response.
We’re on pace for a 156-120 final score.
Knicks 5-5 Spurs, 10:18, 1st quarter: Knicks nearly threw the ball away on their first possession, but Jalen Brunson saves it and dribbles in for a mid-range jumper.
Champagnie drives and draws a foul. Hits both FTs.
The Spurs play a hyperaggressive halfcourt trap that rattles the Knicks. But after a couple of misses, Brunson draws a foul behind the arc to get three free throws. Good, good, good.
Tipoff
Knicks 0-3 Spurs, 11:43, 1st quarter: Ball is kicked back out to Vassell for 3 on the game’s first possession.
Matthew Bentham writes: “Even though it’s only game 2, it feels like do or die for the Spurs , no?”
I just saw a stat that said the home team is 16-2 in Game 2 of the NBA Finals when they lose Game 1. I won’t have a chance to look it up for a while, but I’d have to think the two that lost did not lift the trophy.
Players have been introduced. Wemby doesn’t have a jersey on. They’ll surely take care of that.
Ron Stack writes: “Am I the only one who sees KAT as the Harry Kane of the Knicks? As happy to create as to score. Ultimate team player, but deadly when he gets an opening.”
Maybe, but could Kane stop Messi?
National anthem singer Kels is holding a microphone with three US flags just above her hand, arranged in a triangle. It looks like a cheesecake. Or I’m just hungry.
Tipoff is … not yet. Haven’t heard the national anthem or seen the player intros yet.
Perhaps a slight exaggeration, but it appears that anyone who has ever played for the Spurs or Knicks is present at tonight’s game. We even have a representative from the last Knicks teams to win the championship – Walt “Clyde” Frazier, who won it in 1970 and 1973.
Draft dynamics …
The NBA Draft is June 23-24, and we’ll take a break from seeing everyone’s mock drafts to look backwards and see how these players got here.
Knicks
Mitchell Robinson: 2nd round, 36th overall, 2018 (New York)
—
Karl-Anthony Towns: 1st round, 1st pick, 2015 (Minnesota)
Mikal Bridges: 1st round, 10th pick, 2018 (Philadelphia)
OG Anunoby: 1st round, 23rd pick, 2017 (Toronto)
Landry Shamet: 1st round, 26th pick, 2018 (Philadelphia)
Josh Hart: 1st round, 30th pick, 2017 (Utah)
Jalen Brunson: 2nd round, 33rd overall pick, 2018 (Dallas)
Miles McBride: 2nd round, 36th overall, 2021 (Oklahoma City)
Jordan Clarkson: 2nd round, 46th overall, 2014 (Washington)
Jose Alvarado: undrafted
Spurs
Victor Wembanyana: 1st round, 1st pick, 2023 (San Antonio)
Dylan Harper: 1st round, 2nd pick, 2025 (San Antonio)
Stephon Castle: 1st round, 4th pick, 2024 (San Antonio)
Devin Vassell: 1st round, 11th pick, 2020 (San Antonio)
Carter Bryant: 1st round, 14th pick, 2025 (San Antonio)
Keldon Johnson: 1st round, 29th pick, 2019 (San Antonio)
—
De’Aaron Fox: 1st round, 5th pick, 2017 (Sacramento)
Harrison Barnes: 1st round, 7th pick, 2012 (Golden State)
Julian Champagnie: undrafted
Luke Kornet: undrafted
Bit of a difference in team-building between these two.
Welcome to Game 2
With 2:16 left in Game 1, an air of inevitability set in. The Knicks had a nice run, but Victor Wembanyana had taken over and restored the Spurs’ lead. Game 1 would go to the home team.
With 21.1 seconds left in Game 1, the Knicks had wrapped up the win.
Jalen Brunson was the key offensively, bouncing back after three quarters of missed shots and irritating injuries, but the defense should get the bulk of the credit. Karl-Anthony Towns arguably got the better of Wemby at both ends, though Wemby’s 12 free throws in 13 attempts gave him a higher scoring total on the night.
And so the Knicks have now won 12 straight playoff games. It seems like years ago that the Knicks trailed the Atlanta Hawks 2-1 in their first-round series, and not just because the NBA playoffs last longer than Grateful Dead tours.
Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, catch up on what happened in Game 1, where the Knicks extended their postseason winning streak to a stunning 12 games with a 105-95 victory in San Antonio:
The New York Knicks entered Game 1 of this year’s NBA finals on one of the hottest streaks in playoff history: 11 games won in a row with opponents humiliated, humbled and crushed along the way. On Wednesday night in San Antonio many believed that streak would end as they faced the Spurs, who had knocked out the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the previous round, and are led by the most exciting player in the world, Victor Wembanyama.
The Knicks won anyway, keeping Wembanyama quiet for long stretches in a 105-95 victory on the Spurs’ home court. They are now just three wins from their first title since 1973.
Jalen Brunson, an inspiration for the Knicks throughout these playoffs, came alive once again when it mattered as he saved his best for the closing minutes, ending the game with 30 points, 13 of them coming in the fourth quarter.
Read the full report here.
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