Brunson shook off a slow start to score 30 points, while Josh Hart’s relentless hustle helped the New York Knicks erase a double-digit deficit and take Game 1 against the San Antonio Spurs.
After 27 years of waiting, the New York Knicks were finally back on the NBA Finals stage.
The last time the franchise reached this point was in 1999, and fittingly, standing across from them once again were the San Antonio Spurs. With revenge on their minds and a championship within reach, the Knicks entered Frost Bank Center looking to make an early statement in Game 1.
Q1
For much of the opening quarter, New York’s defense did exactly that. The Knicks controlled the pace, forced difficult shots, and built an early lead behind strong contributions from Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, and Josh Hart. However, cold shooting, turnovers, and a devastating Spurs run completely flipped the momentum late in the frame as San Antonio seized control heading into the second quarter.
The NBA Finals officially began with Karl-Anthony Towns winning the opening tip over Victor Wembanyama, giving New York the first possession of the series. Jalen Brunson wasted no time making his presence felt, drilling a three-pointer on the Knicks’ opening shot. Wembanyama answered with a smooth mid-range jumper over Towns, setting the tone for the highly anticipated matchup.
New York quickly settled in. Anunoby knocked down a corner three after excellent ball movement, then followed it up with a steal and finish in transition. The Knicks’ defense was outstanding during the opening five minutes, holding the Spurs to difficult looks while Hart dominated the glass and Towns found success attacking the rim. When Towns converted another layup midway through the quarter, New York looked firmly in control.
The game changed as both offenses went cold. While the Spurs struggled from deep, the Knicks were unable to capitalize. Missed threes, rushed possessions, and a costly 24-second violation allowed San Antonio to slowly hang around. Castle became increasingly aggressive in the paint, while Dylan Harper provided an energy boost off the bench.
The turning point came during the final minutes. A string of Knicks turnovers fueled a massive Spurs run, highlighted by Harper’s steals, free throws, and an and-one finish. Champagnie and Harper also began finding their range from beyond the arc as San Antonio suddenly caught fire.
Meanwhile, Brunson’s night took a concerning turn. Already struggling to find his shot, the Knicks star appeared to hurt his right knee after contact and was seen heading back to the locker room late in the quarter. The injury scare only added to New York’s frustration as the Spurs outscored the Knicks 20-3 over a crucial stretch.
Shamet briefly stopped the bleeding with a much-needed corner three, but San Antonio continued to build momentum behind timely shot-making and aggressive defense. By the time the horn sounded, what had once been a promising Knicks start had turned into a difficult uphill battle.
After one quarter, the Knicks trailed the Spurs 27-19.
Q2
The Knicks entered the second quarter trailing by eight, but unlike the closing minutes of the first, they responded with far more energy and composure. Deuce McBride helped spark the comeback almost immediately, banking in a three-pointer after Towns drew a foul in transition. Moments later, Jose Alvarado came up with a steal against Wembanyama, although the Spurs superstar quickly recovered with a spectacular chase-down block on Towns that brought the crowd to its feet.
Still, New York kept chipping away. After Wembanyama was called for goaltending on an Alvarado drive, the deficit was trimmed to just three points. Towns continued to attack the basket aggressively, using his footwork to create a beautiful finish off the glass, but one trend was becoming impossible to ignore. While San Antonio repeatedly found itself at the free-throw line, the Knicks struggled to get the same whistle, going deep into the quarter without a single free-throw attempt.
With Towns briefly resting, Mitchell Robinson made his impact felt. Hart connected with him for a soaring alley-oop dunk over Luke Kornet, and Robinson dominated the glass with multiple offensive rebounds that created valuable second-chance opportunities. But unfortunately for New York, foul trouble began creeping in as Hart picked up his third foul in just seven minutes of action.
The return of Brunson changed the game’s rhythm. Despite battling through knee and ankle discomfort and starting just two-for-nine from the field, the Knicks captain refused to back down. He scored on a tip-in after grabbing his own miss, then followed it up with a crafty scoop finish and another driving layup that briefly gave New York a 38-37 lead. His shot wasn’t falling consistently, but his determination helped stabilize the offense during a critical stretch.
Bridges added one of his trademark mid-range jumpers, while Shamet delivered a timely side-step three off a Brunson assist. Every time the Knicks seemed ready to seize momentum, however, San Antonio answered. Keldon Johnson knocked down an open corner three, Wembanyama converted from the line, and the Spurs’ young backcourt continued generating offense.
The biggest story of the quarter became Julian Champagnie. The Spurs’ wing caught fire from beyond the arc, repeatedly punishing defensive lapses. Alvarado answered one of his triples with a three of his own, but Champagnie immediately responded with another. By halftime, he had turned into San Antonio’s hottest scorer (15 points), stretching the Knicks’ defense to its limit.
New York managed to get to the line late in the half, with Towns converting both free throws, but the Spurs landed the final blow. Fox sliced through the defense before finding a red-hot Champagnie for yet another three-pointer. Moments later, Wembanyama swatted away a Bridges attempt as the halftime buzzer sounded.
After fighting back to briefly reclaim the lead, the Knicks headed into the locker room trailing 55-48, with Champagnie’s shooting barrage and San Antonio’s free-throw advantage proving to be the difference.
Q3
If the first half belonged largely to San Antonio, the third quarter became a story of resilience from the Knicks.
The period opened with more frustration for New York. Bridges committed an early foul, Towns picked up his third foul while defending Wembanyama, and the Knicks simply could not buy a basket. Brunson continued to struggle against the physical defense of Devin Vassell, even air-balling a jumper as his rough shooting night carried over from the first half. Meanwhile, Castle continued his impressive Finals debut, slipping through the defense for easy baskets and helping San Antonio extend its advantage.
Offensively, the Knicks looked completely out of rhythm. OG Anunoby missed multiple opportunities, Brunson’s three-pointers repeatedly rattled out, and New York managed just two points through nearly half of the quarter. By the time Wembanyama headed to the bench briefly while appearing to limp, the Spurs had built a commanding 63-50 lead and appeared to have complete control.
Then everything changed.
The comeback began quietly with Bridges knocking down a mid-range jumper before Hart and Shamet injected some much-needed energy. Hart continued doing the dirty work on the glass while Shamet attacked open spaces in the lane.
Most importantly, Towns began taking over the game. The Knicks star center became the focal point of the offense, scoring inside, drawing contact, crashing the offensive boards, and protecting the rim. He converted an and-one, blocked a Champagnie shot, and repeatedly punished the Spurs whenever they failed to box him out. Every possession seemed to run through him as New York slowly chipped away at the deficit.
Brunson also started to find his rhythm after a difficult start. A crafty step-through finish in the paint helped spark a 7-0 Knicks run, cutting the lead to six and forcing San Antonio into a timeout. When the Spurs returned with Wembanyama back on the floor, New York kept attacking. Shamet drilled a huge running three-pointer, Towns added another put-back and an and-one opportunity, and suddenly a game that once looked out of reach was within a single possession.
The Knicks’ defense deserves just as much credit. Hart came up with a steal on Fox, Deuce McBride delivered a huge rejection on Keldon Johnson, and the team held the Spurs to just a handful of field goals during a critical stretch. What had been a double-digit deficit was now completely erased.
With just under two minutes remaining, Brunson drove into the lane and calmly knocked down a pull-up jumper to tie the game at 71, completing the Knicks’ remarkable comeback. The teams traded baskets down the stretch, with Vassell throwing down a dunk, Brunson converting two free-throws, and Wembanyama answering with a powerful one-handed slam.
The final highlight belonged to McBride, who sprinted into the corner and banked home a three-pointer late in the quarter. Wembanyama’s final attempt missed the mark, and after one of the Knicks’ best stretches of basketball all postseason, the game headed to the fourth quarter deadlocked.
After trailing by as many as 13 points in the period, the Knicks stormed back behind Towns’ dominant two-way play and a suffocating defensive effort to tie the game at 76-76 entering the final quarter.
Q4
After clawing all the way back to tie the game at 76 through three quarters, the Knicks entered the final frame with momentum squarely on their side. What followed was a tense, physical, back-and-forth battle worthy of an NBA Finals opener before New York’s stars delivered in winning time.
The Knicks struck first as Landry Shamet cut into the lane for a layup, while OG Anunoby continued to make his presence felt on both ends. After a successful drive to the basket that gave New York a three-point lead, Anunoby buried a corner three and then followed it with another triple over Wembanyama. Suddenly, the Knicks had found an offensive spark from a player who had struggled for much of the night. However, San Antonio refused to go away. Stephon Castle answered repeatedly, knocking down a deep three and showcasing the poise that had been evident throughout the evening.
As the teams traded baskets, Brunson slowly began transforming from a struggling scorer into the closer Knicks fans have become accustomed to seeing. Despite entering the quarter with an inefficient shooting line and battling through injuries sustained earlier in the game, the captain started finding his rhythm. A beautiful underhand floater, followed by two free throws and a transition layup after a Josh Hart steal, pushed New York ahead 92-86 and forced a Spurs timeout.
Even then, the drama was far from over.
Following a brief delay caused by a fan attempting to run onto the floor and take a selfie with Wembanyama, San Antonio regrouped. Wembanyama nailed a huge three-pointer before taking over offensively, eventually converting an and-one that capped a 7-0 Spurs run. The Knicks suddenly found themselves in trouble again as the lead evaporated. When Wembanyama and Champagnie helped push the Spurs ahead 95-94, San Antonio had completed a stunning comeback of its own.
That’s when Brunson delivered.
After missing several key shots during the Spurs run, the All-NBA guard refused to let Game 1 slip away. With the shot clock winding down, Brunson knocked down a massive corner three to reclaim the lead. Fox misfired on the next possession, and Hart grabbed yet another rebound before Bridges calmly sank two free-throws to stretch the advantage.
Hart’s fingerprints were all over the game’s final minutes. Whether it was collecting rebounds, forcing turnovers, or making the extra pass, he consistently created winning plays that won’t always show up in the scoring column. His 15 rebounds, six assists, and four steals helped stabilize New York whenever the offense stalled.
The knockout punch arrived with under 30 seconds remaining. Hart secured a loose ball, Brunson attacked the paint, absorbed contact, and finished through traffic to extend the lead to six. Moments later, Wembanyama missed from deep, Fox committed a loose-ball foul, and Anunoby knocked down two clutch free-throws to effectively seal the victory.
A successful Mike Brown challenge in the closing seconds put the finishing touches on a memorable night as the Knicks calmly closed out a 105-95 victory to take a 1-0 series lead.
Brunson finished with a game-high 30 points despite his rocky start and multiple injury scares. Towns added 18 points and 12 rebounds while spearheading the third-quarter comeback. Anunoby contributed 17 points and three huge three-pointers, while Shamet chipped in 13 points off the bench. But Josh Hart deserves special recognition for one of the most impactful performances of the night, finishing with 15 rebounds, six assists, four steals, and countless hustle plays that helped swing the game in New York’s favor.
Next up, the New York Knicks will be facing the San Antonio Spurs on the road again for Game 2 at Frost Bank Center (1-0) on Friday June 5, at 8:30 p.m. E.T.
Orange and Blue Knicks Skies 
Leave a comment