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Game 1 of the 2026 NBA Finals arrives Wednesday night with rare historical weight, as the San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks meet in a rematch 27 years after their 1999 showdown.
A team that missed the playoffs last season, the Spurs are powered by youth and a generational superstar in Victor Wembanyama. San Antonio is without question ahead of schedule as further evidenced by their preseason odds (+6600). Should they go on and win the NBA title, the Spurs will be the largest preseason underdogs to reach and win the NBA Finals in the last 40 years.
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One reason for the long odds was the injury-plagued season Wembanyama endured in 2024-25. The other was the Spurs’ overall lack of playoff experience. Wemby though has been healthy and being new to the postseason has not been a problem for the young Spurs. Although Harrison Barnes has dressed for 71 postseason games, no other Spurs’ player had played in more than 7 prior to this magical run including Wembanyama, Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper, Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson, Julian Champagnie, and Carter Bryant each of whom had never played in a single postseason game prior to the start of the 2026 playoffs.
Leon Rose did a brilliant job building this Knicks’ roster from scratch. It began in earnest with the free agent signing of Brunson a handful of years ago. He followed that home run with trades for Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart, and Mikal Bridges. Rose raised eyebrows with a coaching change after last season’s trip to the Conference Finals replacing Tom Thibodeau with Mike Brown but the results are obvious.
After falling to Indiana in last year’s Eastern Conference Final, the expectations for the Knicks were much greater entering this season. Needless to say, Jalen Brunson and New York met the moment. The Knicks take the court riding an historic 11‑game win streak. Their only two losses were way back in the first round and were each by a single point. New York has recorded a +271 point differential in the playoffs thus far which is the highest scoring margin in NBA history heading into the NBA Finals. Their average margin of…
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Publish date : 2026-06-02 19:22:00
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