Knicks corner threes force Wembanyama into tough choices

Knicks corner – From Mitchell Robinson sealing Victor Wembanyama on the left block to De’Aaron Fox being left scrambling on corner kicks, the Knicks’ plan in the 2026 NBA Finals is showing up in one place: the four corner 3s. With New York leading 2-0 over San Antonio, the st

SAN ANTONIO — In the final seconds of the third quarter of Game 1, Mitchell Robinson was posted on Victor Wembanyama on the left low block. Josh Hart stayed planted on the right, and it looked like a simple job: keep Wembanyama from getting free in the paint.

Then it happened fast. Hart caught it within two passes with a lane to the rim. and suddenly Wembanyama had to leave Robinson to protect the basket. But Hart never went up. His plan was always to collapse the defense—two dribbles in the paint to buy time for Miles McBride to drift to the corner. Hart led McBride with the pass. When McBride caught it with his momentum carrying him toward baseline. he planted firmly in the corner and let the jumper go.

The result was a 3 over charging Spurs point guard De’Aaron Fox. McBride’s corner shot caromed high off the glass and through the net.

It’s the kind of play that feels like luck on a playground—finding “a $20 bill in a jacket you haven’t worn in a while.” But in this series. the Knicks have treated corner shooting like a weapon. not a fluke. The most precious real estate in these NBA Finals is one thing: the four corner plots of 42 square feet each. one in each corner. Together, it’s about 3.6 percent of an NBA court. It’s also the kind of space that can decide games.

New York holds a commanding 2-0 lead over San Antonio, and the Knicks have gotten there by maximizing those corners. In these playoffs, New York has made 53.6 percent of its corner 3s—directly aimed at a Spurs defense built to protect the paint.

The Spurs’ identity is built around Wembanyama patrolling the interior. His length is measured in something that changes every defensive math problem teams face: a wing span of 8 feet in NBA history. With athletic. aggressive guards on the perimeter—and with Wembanyama as the rim protector—they defend the 3-point line well. too. It’s why the Spurs are difficult to solve.

The Knicks came into the finals averaging 53.3 points in the paint, the most in the playoffs. That number mattered because it was a visible shift from their regular-season profile: New York ranked 23rd in points in the paint at 47.8. Against the Spurs, that interior number drops to 44.0. The explanation is the one the series seems to keep proving: “The Wemby Effect.” San Antonio is allowing only 41.2 paint points per game in these playoffs.

Mikal Bridges summed up what that kind of presence does to an offense. “His length is unmatched and he’s got good IQ,” Bridges said. “It definitely causes trouble. He’s DPOY for a reason.”

So the Knicks adapt without backing away from what works. When they want Wembanyama out of the paint. they can go to Karl-Anthony Towns or put him in pick-and-roll with Brunson. But they don’t mind leaving Wembanyama in the middle either. If he stays. New York goes to the corners and punishes defenses from 22 feet—the shortest kind of 3-point damage on the court.

The idea is familiar. Oklahoma City used a similar approach in the Western Conference finals. averaging just 38 points in the paint and shunning interior offense to set up open 3s. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander drives collapsed defenses, then passed to teammates drifting to the corner. OKC leaned on Alex Caruso and Cason Wallace in that role, burning the Spurs with corner 3s. The numbers there were sharp: a combined 18 for 31 from the corners.

But the Thunder cooled later—after Game 4. In the final three games, they made just 11 of 32 shots from that range after making 23 of their first four games.

The Knicks are trying to keep their own version from slipping.

Corner shooting is central to how New York looks at this stage. New York led the league in corner 3s made with 409. per NBA Stats. and it was one of only five teams to reach at least 350. Fewer than half the league—12 teams—reached 300. The swing is even clearer in the Finals, where New York is scorching from the corners.

OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges have ranked near the top of the league in corner 3s made during the regular season—Anunoby first and Bridges third. Landry Shamet is also part of that rotation of corner threats, and Miles McBride has been a regular corner sniper. Together, Anunoby and Shamet account for 10 of the Knicks’ 15 corner 3s.

Anunoby described it simply: “First of all,” Anunoby explained, “(it’s) a lot of practice. A lot of shots. It opens up the floor. Us being in the corners spreads the floor open and it’s a great release valve for the offense.”

That message fits the way the Spurs are forced to react. New York isn’t inventing a corner 3—it’s been valued in the NBA for years. The Spurs have taken nearly 11 a game from the corners in the postseason (10.8), and New York has tried 10.1 per game. The difference is made at the end of the shot clock: the Knicks make them at a clip that breaks how defenses can stay intact.

Mike Brown’s squad entered the series shooting 41.8 percent from the corners—the only groups above them were the Lakers at 46.3 and Minnesota at 44.4. and neither of those teams made it past the second round. The Spurs entered the finals shooting 32 percent from the corners, which ranked 14th out of 16 teams in the postseason. Through two games, the Knicks have made 15 of 28 corner 3s—eight in Game 1 and seven in Game 2.

New York’s corner identity didn’t just show up in one highlight. It showed up in the way the series has played the matchups. On Brunson’s massive go-ahead 3 in Game 1—from the right corner—Wembanyama was pinned behind Towns. That forced Stephon Castle to hustle from the middle of the paint to get a hand up. Castle didn’t stand a chance.

Jose Alvarado described the defensive headache in the language of daily work. “It’s hard,” Alvarado said. “That’s why we try to get in the paint and spray it out. It’s a tough task.”

Against the Knicks, the court looks wider than it normally does. It’s too much ground even for Wembanyama to cover, and even with San Antonio’s athletic guards getting to shooters, they often don’t have the length to truly affect the shots.

And if Wembanyama chooses to find his way to the corners anyway—using his 96-inch wingspan to alter a shot’s trajectory—the Knicks don’t act panicked. Going out wide costs him energy, a scarce resource this late in the season. It also opens driving lanes.

The Spurs have had moments where they could try to benefit from Wembanyama staying in the middle. Midway through the fourth quarter of Game 2, Fox was defending Karl-Anthony Towns, allowing Wembanyama to patrol the middle. The Knicks used Towns as a draw—one of the best-shooting big men in history—to pull Wembanyama out of the paint. With him higher on the floor, the rim was vulnerable to cuts and drives.

With a small on Towns, Wembanyama could play free safety and help out instead of being locked in on Towns. But Towns, standing in the left corner, threw a cross-court pass over Wembanyama to Anunoby in the right corner.

That pass came with the threat of the corner 3. Wembanyama had to hustle to the right corner to defend. He succeeded in preventing the corner 3, but the Spurs learned what the Knicks know already: defending one option opens another. Anunoby turned that aggression into a drive.

Once Wembanyama got too close, his momentum started to slip away from the basket, making him easy to get by. After Anunoby got a step, he kept Wembanyama on his back. Wembanyama looked helpless—too out of position, too gassed from covering so much ground. After three dribbles, Anunoby powered up for a two-handed dunk.

The message of both ends of the play is what has made this series feel like a chess board with one overpowered square. When New York collapses the paint and “spreads” the floor with corner threats. it forces Wembanyama into decisions he can’t win easily. And when he goes, the Knicks have shown they can hit the shot—or punish the recovery.

The corners belong to the Knicks.

Knicks Spurs Victor Wembanyama corner 3s OG Anunoby Mikal Bridges Miles McBride De’Aaron Fox Mitchell Robinson Game 1 Game 2 2026 NBA Finals