New York Knicks vs San Antonio Spurs: Behind Brunson, Knicks pull away in clutch, steal Game 1 on road

When the game got tight late — tied midway through the fourth — the young Spurs got tight, shooting utility 28.6% in the fourth, including 2-of-10 from 3.

The Knicks had Brunson.

New York did better, shooting 40.9% in the fourth and hitting half their 3-pointers and getting 13 points from Brunson.

With that, New York takes Game 1 on the road, 105-95.

The Knicks are about to win their 12th game in a row, playing better down the stretch than the Spurs.

It’s 103-95 with 20.7 left.

Jalen Brunson is clutch.

The Knicks are winning the points in the paint by four in the fourth quarter and the game by 5, 94-89, but a Wemby 3-pointer forced a Mike Brown timeout.

Security quickly raced out and dragged the guy off the court.

However, it turned what might have been a Knicks turnover (Bridges had deflected a pass) into a jump ball at center court the Spurs won.

Victor Wembanyama went out and the Knicks understood the asignment — start attacking the rim.

Wemby is back but the Knicks have stretched out to an eight-point lead, 92-86.

OG Anunoby hit a couple of 3-pointers to get the Knicks in front, but these Spurs are tough, responsed, and we’re tied 86-86 with 7:37 remaining in the game.

Wembanyama is clearly gassed. Mitch Johnson needs to rest him but can’t afford to for long.

Game 1 is shaping up to be a classic.

The Knicks trailed by 13 in the quarter but bounced back and tied it 76-76 with one quarter to go.

Karl-Anthony Towns has been the best player on the Knicks: 18 points, 10 rebounds and a +9 through three quarters.

Dylan Harper has 16 off the bench to lead the Spurs, with both Champagnie (scoreless in the third) and Wembanyama each with 15.

If a team starts hitting its 3s it can take this. San Antonio is shooting 27.3% from 3-point range (9-of-33) while the Knicks are at 26.7% (8-of-30).

Karl-Anthony Towns is having himself a game.

It’s not a coincidence that the Knicks went on a run the second Wembanyama went to the bench.

Mitch Johnson called a timeout with 4:57 left, and the Knicks are now just down six, 67-61. After the timeout, Wemby is back.

The Knicks have scored just two points so far in the second half and now trail by 13, 63-50.

The Knicks are 1-of-5 shooting in the third, including 0-4 from beyond the arc. The Spurs aren’t much better, 0-of-5 from 3, but 2-of-3 in the paint plus have scored four at the free throw line.

Just a handful of stats from the first half of note:

• The Spurs are shooting just 45% in the paint.
• Victor Wembanyama is 1-of-4 shooting in the paint.
• The Spurs are +4 in the non-Wemby minutes, a huge win for them.
• Landry Shamet’s defense is an issue and he is -16.
• The Knicks have six offensive rebounds, which they converted to 11 points.
• Brunson is 1-of-5 from 3, McBride 1-of-4.
• Spurs not named Champagnie are 4-of-18 from 3.

With the Spurs up by 7 at the break (55-48) and Brunson getting banged up and playing through it in the first half, the odds from DraftKings are tilting toward the Spurs.

Halftime odds:

San Antonio -425 New York +300

Spread: Spurs -7.5

Total: 209.5

The Knicks learned a lesson late in the first half that the Thunder learned the hard way in Game 7 of the last series: Don’t help off Julian Champagnie.

The Brooklyn native had five 3-points and a team-high 15 points as the Spurs have a 55-48 lead at halftime.

Dylan Harper has been a beast and has a dozen points on 4-of-5 shooting. Wembanyama has 9 points but has shot just 2-of-8, he does have three blocks.

Jalen Brunson is playing through pain and has 11 points but on 5-of-15 shooting. KAT has 8 points, but on 3-of-9 shooting. The Knicks’ role players have been sharper, with Landry Shamet hitting a couple of 3s and Jose Alvarado with 7 points, but he twice helped off Champagnie, leaving him open. That went poorly, and the Knicks trail.

Jalen Brunson returned to the court and got a bucket on a driving layup, but Spurs center Luke Kornet went up to block it and landed on his ankle. Brunson was in a lot of pain, angry and the Knicks called a timeout.

That said he stayed in the game after the timeout and got a bucket.

It’s 37-34 Spurs with 5:52 left in the first half.

Victor Wembanyama challenged Karl-Anthony Towns at the rim and got called for the foul, but Spurs coach Mitch Johnson challenged it and won — it was overturned to an offensive foul on KAT.

The good news for the Knicks, Jalen Brunson is re-entering the game.

It’s 31-28 Spurs with 8:03 left in the first half.

Knicks’ point guard Jalen Brunson has returned to the bench after getting his right knee looked at in the locker room.

Brunson was injured when a push from Knicks’ wing Landry Shamet caused Spurs forward Harrison Barnes to fall into the outside of his right leg. Brunson was seen motioning to the coaching staff that he’s fine after his return to the bench.

The big news out of the first quarter is that Jalen Brunson had to limp back to the locker room after Harrison Barnes collided with Landry Shamet and fell into Brunson’s knee.

Brunson returned to the Knicks bench at the end of the first, but was still clearly in pain and limping.

The Knicks started hot, but the Spurs dialed up the defense after their first timeout, and the game changed. For the first quarter, New York shot 33.3%, and 3-of-11 from 3, and had four turnovers. San Antonio isn’t tearing it up — 37.5% from the floor — but it’s enough.

Dylan Harper has 10 and the Spurs lead 27-19 after one quarter.

New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson returned to the locker room for further evaluation after suffering an apparent right knee injury during the first quarter of Game 1 of the 2026 NBA Finals.

Spurs forward Harrison Barnes fell into the side of Brunson’s right leg after being knocked down by Knicks wing Landry Shamet. While the point guard remained on the floor in the immediate aftermath of the injury, he was subbed out and taken to the locker room after the following possession.

Jose Alvarado has replaced Brunson in the Knicks’ lineup.

Dylan Harper — the ROOKIE out of Rutgers — has been the best player on the court, is just forcing his way into the paint, and has 10 early points as he just overpowered Jalen Brunson going to the rim.

27-17 Spurs after Mike Brown was forced to call a timeout.

The Spurs started 1-of-8 from 3-point range, but when the shots started to fall — thanks Julian Champagnie — and San Antonio went on a 15-3 run over the last 3:06 to take the five-point lead, 22-17, with 2:33 remaining in the first quarter.

Josh Hart chose poorly challenging Wemby on the break.

There are more Knicks fans in the building than it looked like, and they have had a lot to cheer about.

New York leads 12-7 with 7:28 left in the first quarter. The real difference in those minutes is that the Knicks are 2-of-3 from beyond the arc, while the Spurs are 1-of-5. Wembanyama and Anunoby lead all scorers early with five points each.

The Knicks won the opening tip and Jalen Brunson hit a 3 to start the game.

Next to the media seats, a group of Knicks fans started a pregame “Go Knicks Go” chant, only to quickly find themselves drowned out by Spurs fan inserting their team’s name into the chant.

Look around the inside of the Frost Bank Center and there are little pockets of Knicks’ blue shirts among the sea of Spurs pastels. However, this is not going to be like the games in Cleveland or other stops earlier in the playoffs, where road arenas sounded like Madison Square Garden. Part of that was a deal by the official ticket sellers that no tickets would be sold to people with credit cards whose billing zip code was more than 150 miles from San Antonio. Knicks fans had to get creative.

But the other part is that the Spurs fans believe in this team, and this city is as energized for its team as New York, there just aren’t a bunch of media members living in San Antonio, so it gets played down compared to hungry Knicks fans.

The New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs have announced their starting lineups for the opening game of the 2026 NBA Finals, with neither making any changes.

Eastern Conference Finals Most Valuable Player Jalen Brunson is joined by Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns.

The Spurs counter with De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, Julian Champagnie and Western Conference Finals Most Valuable Player Victor Wembanyama.

New York Knicks backup center Mitchell Robinson (finger) is officially available for Game 1 of the 2026 NBA Finals.

At some point following the Eastern Conference Finals, the 7-footer suffered a fractured right pinky finger. Neither Robinson nor the Knicks have discussed how the injury happened, but he’s good to go for Game 1. He will have some protection on the finger.

Robinson played 15 minutes in the Knicks’ 114-89 win over the Spurs on March 1, contributing four points, five rebounds, one steal and one blocked shot. His role will be key in this series, especially if Karl-Anthony Towns lands in early foul trouble.

Not hyped enough for these NBA Finals? What is wrong with you — this sets up to be an epic showdown of the hottest team right now against the team of the future that decided the future is now.

If you need help, here are the teams’ official hype videos. First, the New York Knicks.

Now, the San Antonio Spurs.

Last series, Stephon Castle was the primary defender on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. After those seven games of forearms into his ribs, Castle will be the primary defender on Jalen Brunson this series.

How are they similar? Different?

“They exhaust every possession in terms of looking for advantages and taking opportunities of undisciplined defense,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said, comparing them. " They are as advanced as anybody in the league in terms of manipulating, dictating and taking up angles. They have an array of fakes at the start and end of possessions. They go both ways. Their tendencies aren’t as extreme as a lot of players in the league, even some of the higher-level scorers and volume guys. They are very skilled. They are not going to force things.

“So at some point, if they see the same picture over and over, they are going to take what the defense gives them and they are not going to fight the game.”

Here are a few highlights of what the players said on Tuesday at Media Day for the NBA Finals. It’s worth noting that both teams were very complementary and respectful of their opponents, no trash talking. Yet.

Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama on hangover from Western Conference Finals Game 7: “Coming back down from this is a challenge. It’s not done yet. We still need to really come back down to earth and realize we haven’t done the hardest yet. The job isn’t done at all. So we still got about, I don’t know, what time is it, like 30-plus hours to recenter.”

Knicks’ Landry Shamet on Karl Anthony-Towns: “I think he’s lived through a number of different seasons within the season this year, where we’ve asked him to do some different things... KAT has been kind of coming into that role. When we got into the Playoffs, he’s been a fantastic facilitator, playmaker at the top of the floor for us. Been really aggressive offensively, as well. Been asked to defend at a high level, and he’s done that.”

Knicks’ Karl-Anthony Towns on what it means to help the Knicks return to the Finals: “It means a lot for my mother. When she emigrated from [the Dominican Republic] to New York, she saw Madison Square Garden for the first time and saw the energy the city has for Madison Square Garden and the Knicks. My mom, even to the day she passed, wasn’t big on the NBA rules, but one thing she did know was that only the best of the best perform and play at Madison Square Garden. To be able to have this moment in Knicks history where we’re back here, where New York has been hungry to be back in this Finals, it means a lot.”

Spurs’ Devin Vassell on the Knicks beating them twice during the season: “We feel like the Knicks have played us really well this year. We went into their house and they beat us. They beat us in the in-season tournament. They beat us last year on Christmas. We feel like we’ve got to get some get-back because they’ve been successful against us.”

The Knicks may enter Game 1 on a historic hot streak, but the bookmakers are not convinced — the Spurs are the favorites, both for the game and to take the series.

Here are the betting odds for Game 1 of the NBA Finals, as well as for the series overall, courtesy of our partners at DraftKings.

Game 1 odds: Spurs -4.5
Moneyline: Spurs -185, Knicks +154
Over/Under: 218.5

Series odds:
Spurs -185
Knicks +155

This is a huge relief for the Knicks and their fans.

Mitchell Robnison fractured his hand — early reports of it being a “pinky finger” felt like an agent’s spin — and had to have surgery to repair his fifth metacarpal bone (the long which connects the finger to the wrist). Usually, that means six weeks or more before a return to play, but Robinson practiced with the team on Tuesday and is reportedly set to play in Game 1.

New York needs his size and physicality in trying to defend Victor Wembanyama, plus Robinson is a force on the offensive glass and had 10 offensive rebounds in the Knicks’ NBA Cup win against the Spurs. If Robinson can give Mike Brown a solid 20 minutes, that will be a huge plus for New York.

New York’s and San Antonio’s paths to this rematch of the 1999 Finals could not be different.

New York stormed through the East on a historic run: 11 straight wins, sweeping both the 76ers and Cavaliers, with 10 of those wins by at least 11 points. New York has a +262 point differential during the streak, the largest in any 11-game span in NBA history, regular season or playoffs. The one time the Knicks were really pushed in this run was Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, when New York came from 22 points down in the fourth quarter to beat Atlanta in overtime. As a team, the Knicks are shooting 40% from 3 in the playoffs and the hot shooting is led by Landry Shamet off the bench, who is 18-of-24 from beyond the arc in the last eight games.

San Antonio was pushed much harder. First by Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves (a series the Spurs won in six games), then by the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in a bruising, high-level, physical and intense seven-game series. Victor Wembanyama carried the Spurs to a couple of wins in that series — Game 1 was a legendary effort with 41 points and 24 rebounds, with nine of those points in the second overtime.

However, in Game 7, it was a sign of the growth of the young Spurs that Wemby was good (22 points), but it was defense and a balanced attack — with six 3-pointers from Julian Champagnie — that got the win. The Spurs won Game 7 on the road against the defending champs and two-time MVP, which is a sign they have arrived.