The Knicks stole Game 1. Down fourteen in the third quarter at the Frost Bank Center, with Wembanyama on the floor and Fox running pick-and-roll at will, New York closed the night on a run that the broadcast team kept calling a comeback long after it had already turned into a beating. Final: 105-95, Knicks lead the series 1-0, and home court flips after one night.
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York Knicks | 22 | 24 | 26 | 33 | 105 |
| San Antonio Spurs | 28 | 26 | 24 | 17 | 95 |
How the Knicks Won the Fourth Quarter
San Antonio led 78-72 going into the fourth and gave up thirty-three points in twelve minutes. The headline number everyone will repeat tomorrow is the Brunson 30 — and the eleven of those that came after the Knicks went small with Hart at the four — but the real number is the Spurs fourth. Seventeen points on twenty-one shots. Six turnovers. Two open looks at the rim that Wembanyama bricked off the back iron. New York didn't catch fire so much as San Antonio froze.
The Knicks switched coverages around the eight-minute mark. Through three quarters they had blitzed Fox in the pick-and-roll and given up open threes when help didn't recover. Coming out of the timeout, they switched everything, parked Karl-Anthony Towns on Wembanyama, and dared the Spurs to win a one-on-one game. Fox got off the ball faster than he wanted, Wembanyama tried to bully Towns twice, and the offence stalled. It really was that simple.
Brunson's Night
Thirty points on twenty shots, nine assists, four turnovers, all of them in the first three quarters. He spent the third looking visibly frustrated — caught a forearm to the chin from Sochan, picked up his fourth foul on a soft over-the-back call that didn't look like one in real time — and then he flipped the switch. The first three possessions of the fourth all went through him: a step-back triple, a finish through contact at the rim, a kick-out to Mikal Bridges for a corner three. Spurs called timeout down two with eight minutes left. They never tied it again.
That's twelve straight playoff wins for the Knicks now, which is a number that didn't exist in this franchise's history a month ago. Brunson is averaging close to thirty in this postseason and the rest of the league has not figured out a coverage that doesn't end with him at the line in the last two minutes.
The Wembanyama Question
Twenty-six points and twelve rebounds, and a six-for-twenty-one shooting line that the Spurs cannot afford twice. He took a mix of fadeaways, contested middies and one rim attempt where he tried to dunk over Robinson and got swallowed. The Knicks forced him into the spots he's least comfortable — short rolls into help, post-ups against a switched-on Towns — and San Antonio's offence never gave him a clean two-on-one in transition the way it had against Oklahoma City.
He'll adjust. The Spurs played him forty-one minutes, which is a lot for a Game 1, and most of his bad looks came in the third when New York was already swarming him. Game 2 on Sunday is the actual test of whether this is a series or whether the Knicks just announced themselves.
The Rest of the Box Score
Karl-Anthony Towns finished with eighteen points and twelve rebounds and the cleanest plus-minus on the floor at +14. Josh Hart had fifteen rebounds and six assists on a night he took three shots — every Knicks fan's favourite kind of Hart line. Bridges added sixteen on six-for-eleven, and OG Anunoby chipped in eleven and four steals with the defensive assignment on Fox.
San Antonio got eighteen from De'Aaron Fox on twelve shots — efficient enough — but Stephon Castle missed all five three-point attempts and the Spurs bench combined for fourteen points. That's a bench game New York wins ten times out of ten.
What Each Team Adjusts
- San Antonio. Get Wembanyama touches in the short roll, not on the elbow. The Knicks are content to live with a contested twelve-footer; they are not content to let him operate four feet from the rim with a passing read.
- San Antonio. Stop helping off Bridges. He's the second-most-likely Knick to make an unguarded three, and the corner three he made in the fourth came after Castle dug down two steps on a Towns post-up.
- New York. Decide what to do with Mitchell Robinson's minutes. He played eighteen, the Spurs hunted him on switches, and Tom Thibodeau still leaned on him in the fourth. Either trust him or shrink the rotation.
- New York. Nothing else. Don't fix what won the fourth.
Series Outlook
The Knicks are the better-rested team and they just took home court without their best night — Brunson's thirty came on a stretch where the rest of the starters shot well below their playoff averages through three quarters. The Spurs are the more talented team in the abstract and have the home crowd for one more, but Game 2 on Sunday is now a must-win. Down 0-2 with three straight in New York is the kind of hole that the NBA Finals don't historically reward escape attempts from.
Series price moved overnight from a coin-flip to Knicks-favoured in most books. Game 2 is Sunday at 8 PM ET on ABC.
FAQ
What was the final score of NBA Finals Game 1? New York 105, San Antonio 95. The Knicks lead the series 1-0.
Who scored the most points in Game 1? Jalen Brunson led all scorers with 30 points on twenty shots, with nine assists. Victor Wembanyama had 26 and 12 for the Spurs on 6-of-21 shooting.
When is Game 2? Sunday, June 7 at 8 PM ET on ABC, in San Antonio.
Where can I follow the rest of the series live? Live scores and quarter-by-quarter updates run on Scorelisto's basketball page, and our blog index has Game 1 reactions plus previews of the rest of the series.