Knicks vs – Nearly 30 years after their last NBA Finals meeting, the Knicks and Spurs open the series in a rematch shaped by two different kinds of momentum: New York’s playoff dominance behind Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, and San Antonio’s defense-first blueprin
Wednesday night doesn’t just start the NBA Finals. It throws two franchises into a question neither can ignore: what does history do to a team when it comes back wearing a familiar face?
The New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs will play Game 1 of the Finals with their series almost two lives apart—San Antonio’s last Finals meeting with the Knicks dates back to 1999. when the Spurs won in five games. Back then. it was led by a rapidly ascending 22-year-old on a Knicks team desperate to break through after years of playoff shortcomings and running into whatever Eastern Conference powerhouse was peaking at the time. including the Michael Jordan-era Bulls and Reggie Miller’s Pacers.
Now the match-up returns nearly 30 years later with the stakes just as loud. and the story already written in contrasting ways. The Spurs will lean on what they did in their title run this spring. while the Knicks point to something that happened just six months ago: New York beat Victor Wembanyama’s Spurs to capture an NBA Cup title. a win that ultimately fed into this long-awaited return to the Finals.
This time, there’s no mistaking the distance between the two paths. The season series entering Game 1 is tied 1-1, with the Knicks winning the NBA Cup Final against the Spurs, a result that did not count toward regular-season standings.
The Finals schedule (all times in ET) begins with Game 1: New York at San Antonio on Wednesday. June 3 at 8:30 p.m. Game 2 is Friday, June 5 at 8:30 p.m. back at San Antonio. Game 3 shifts to New York on Monday, June 8 at 8:30 p.m., followed by Game 4 on Wednesday, June 10 at 8:30 p.m. Game 5 is Saturday, June 13 at 8:30 p.m. back in San Antonio, then Game 6 is Tuesday, June 16 at 8:30 p.m. in New York. If necessary, Game 7 goes on Friday, June 19 at 8:30 p.m. in San Antonio. (Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ are listed for Games 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7.).
San Antonio’s climb has been built step by step. The Spurs first dispatched the Portland Trail Blazers 4-1. then outlasted the Minnesota Timberwolves 4-2. and finally knocked off the defending-champion Oklahoma City Thunder in their own barn 4-3. Their identity has been consistent enough to build confidence: third on offence and second on defence through the playoffs.
Wembanyama remains the gravitational pull. In a seven-game series. his all-world impact acted as a rising tide that kept his teammates afloat long enough for key performances to land. On Saturday. the French phenom produced a relatively modest game compared to his usual loft—still enough to keep San Antonio moving.
The Spurs’ road hasn’t been a straight line of dominance. There have been ebbs and flows along the way, but the result is the Finals.
New York’s path looked more orderly. and in the playoffs it translated into something almost rare: a streak that wasn’t just winning—it was overrunning. The Knicks overcame an early 2-1 deficit to eliminate the Atlanta Hawks 4-2. then swept a pair of tired-and-old-looking opponents in the Philadelphia 76ers and Cleveland Cavaliers.
They didn’t just get hot. They stacked history. New York is the fifth team in NBA history to go on an 11-game win streak in the playoffs. Among the other four teams, three ended up winning it all—2017 Warriors, 1999 Spurs and 2001 Lakers. The remaining team made the Finals and lost: the 1989 Lakers.
And New York’s dominance shows up in the margins. The Knicks boast a league-best plus-19.3 average margin of victory in the postseason. They’re plus-262 over that 11-game run—the highest point differential over any 11-game span in NBA history, whether in the regular season or playoffs, per NBA.com.
Still, this is the Finals. San Antonio arrives as the stiffest test New York has seen all playoffs.
The central chess match begins with controlling Jalen Brunson the way San Antonio contained Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
On paper, the numbers for the other superstar can look too good to handle. Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 25.9 points, 8.9 assists and 1.9 steals in the Conference Finals. Yet he also averaged 3.1 turnovers and posted a 54.6 per cent true shooting mark. That combination is the point: San Antonio didn’t stop him by accident. On Sunday, Gilgeous-Alexander admitted, “it’s no secret (San Antonio) had success guarding me.”.
San Antonio controlled the terms of engagement by throwing multiple bodies at him. forcing the Thunder star to facilitate more often than attack. and daring OKC role players to make the difference. The Spurs also funneled the ball away from Gilgeous-Alexander and toward Wembanyama. then attacked the gaps to create enough chaos that they became the first team since 1974 to total 150 steals and 130 blocks through the first three playoff rounds.
As the Spurs enter the Finals, they’ve built on that disruption. They force the third-most total turnovers in the postseason with 249. The immediate question is whether San Antonio will use that same blueprint on Brunson—a shifty guard most comfortable between the paint and the three-point line who often plays at his own pace.
New York’s advantage isn’t just personnel—it’s shooting and spacing. The Knicks bring a league-best 40 per cent conversion rate from distance into the Finals, with wings and a dynamic big man willing to let it fly.
Karl-Anthony Towns is the “your turn. my turn” partner New York needed when Mike Brown replaced Tom Thibodeau as head coach. The earlier offence and collective defence weren’t cutting it. but Towns’ role has evolved into something more essential than the box score suggests. Some of his raw numbers dipped. including an averaging of a playoff career-low 16.9 points. yet he has balanced that trade by producing postseason-highs of 5.9 assists—more than double his previous high—plus 1.2 steals and 1.4 blocks. and a 71.3 per cent true shooting mark.
He’s also raised his engagement defensively beyond what it looked like in the past. Against Wembanyama, that matters. Towns will need to challenge the Spurs star on both sides—especially because with so much attention on Brunson. Towns is likely to be relied upon offensively more than he has been in previous series.
Defensively. the Knicks have multiple stout options to throw at Wembanyama. including OG Anunoby. who spent plenty of time doing it in the regular season. But Wembanyama’s most frequent matchup against New York was ultimately Towns. and at seven feet-plus. Towns might be one of the only nimble enough to keep up.
Wembanyama is arriving with the kind of spotlight that doesn’t quiet down. He enters as the youngest leading scorer on a Finals team in nearly 70 years.
If Towns is one side of the Finals matchup, the other is how San Antonio survives when the game becomes more than just defence.
San Antonio’s rookie has played an outsized role, which is rare in the postseason. Only three first-year players averaged 20-plus minutes this postseason, and yet the Spurs have relied on their No. 2 overall pick. This is a testament to the player’s adaptability both on offence and defence—adjusting from a ball-dominant role with Rutgers to a lesser role in San Antonio behind a stacked backcourt.
Despite his usage dropping even further in the playoffs, Harper has become a hyper-opportunist. He’s been efficient with his scoring chances. with a 62.7 per cent true shooting mark. and he has meaningful rebounding production among the best at his position. per CleaningTheGlass. He has also provided versatile defence.
That impact shows up in team metrics: Harper is second on the Spurs in playoff net rating among key rotation players. behind only Wembanyama. Johnson has turned to the rookie in times of need—for example when Castle has faced foul trouble and needed defensive relief. or when Julian Champagnie hasn’t had it going offensively and San Antonio has required a spark.
Harper may not be expected to turn the Finals, but the Spurs are built around the idea that roles can swing momentum anyway.
New York’s version of that “glue” is Derrick Hart.
If there were ever a Hall of Fame for do-it-all role players, Hart would be on track for a first-ballot selection. His value is the kind that rarely shows up in simple highlights—he is the kind of “other guy” X-factor that keeps teams functioning on nights when stars need help.
In the Conference Finals, Hart averaged 14.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 2.3 steals on 34.6 per cent shooting from beyond the arc. The story for the Finals is how his offence can create swings. especially with the chance that Wembanyama spends time “guarding” the Knicks swingman. If that happens. Hart could pull defensive attention into place. allowing the reigning Defensive Player of the Year to sag off. roam around. and wreak havoc elsewhere.
Hart’s impact won’t only be about scoring. His defensive blueprint is physical and in-your-shorts—matching the style Caruso built. the same approach he’ll likely need to use when slowing down Wembanyama becomes necessary. It didn’t happen all that often in the regular season. but smaller. scrappier and physical players have stymied the Spurs star from time to time.
San Antonio will try to set the tempo. New York will try to turn that disruption into clean shots and defensive stops. Somewhere in the middle, the rematch will stop being about nostalgia and start demanding answers—starting with Game 1 in San Antonio on Wednesday, June 3 at 8:30 p.m.
NBA Finals Knicks Spurs Jalen Brunson Karl-Anthony Towns Victor Wembanyama San Antonio Spurs New York Knicks Game 1 June 3 Mike Brown Tom Thibodeau Jalen Brunson turnovers playoff net rating