NBA Finals: Blowout? Tight game? Late deficit? Whatever the situation, these Knicks are proving tough to beat

SAN ANTONIO — Midway through the third quarter Wednesday night, the New York Knicks found themselves in a position they haven’t been in much over this past magical month: staring up at an opponent on the scoreboard, thanks to an inability to consistently generate good looks.

Trailing by 13, Jalen Brunson got what might’ve been his cleanest look of the night — a catch-and-shoot 3 created by old buddy Josh Hart driving to the middle, drawing the help of the perpetually menacing Victor Wembanyama and leaving the Knicks’ leading scorer all alone in the corner. But Brunson — who’d limped back to New York’s locker room after a collision with San Antonio Spurs forward Harrison Barnes late in the first quarter and who’d missed 12 of his first 17 shots in Game 1 of the 2026 NBA Finals — couldn’t cash in:

It was par for the course in what had been a struggle for the Knicks against a fast, physical, snare-drum-tight Spurs defense, with Stephon Castle at the point of attack and Wembanyama blanketing the half-court on the backline. Less than a minute after Brunson’s miss, San Antonio rookie phenom Dylan Harper spun through the defense of Mikal Bridges for one of his many fantastic finishes in Game 1, giving the Spurs their biggest lead of the game.

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The bad news: The Knicks were down 14 points on the road to a 62-win team that just vanquished the defending NBA champions. The good news: This team has been down way more, with way less time on the clock, and lived to tell the tale.

“You know, we’re down double digits tonight, and we were also down double digits in Game 1 against Cleveland,” Knicks head coach Mike Brown said after the game. “And for our guys just to stay with it is huge. Because anything can happen in a 48-minute game, as long as you stay the course.”

As they did against Cleveland to open the Eastern Conference finals, and as they did to Boston in Games 1 and 2 of their second-round series last year, the Knicks did a hell of a lot more than just stay the course. They didn’t just stay in the fight; they planted their back foot and started throwing haymakers, outscoring the Spurs 54-30 over the…

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Author : Dan Devine

Publish date : 2026-06-04 06:57:00

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