It’s time for Finals Basketball: San Antonio Spurs vs New York Knicks, Game 1

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It’s kind of odd that the last couple of rounds of the playoffs have involved teams that the Spurs have played more times than they normally would in the season. The Spurs met the Thunder 5 times in the regular season, and 7 times in the playoffs, and we all know how that turned out, with the Spurs winning 8 times, withe the most important win on May 30 to advance to the Finals. The Spurs have already met the Knicks three times this season, although one of the games was the NBA Cup Finals, which didn’t count in the standings. Normally, the Spurs would only play a team from the Eastern Conference twice in a season, but thanks to the wonders of the in-season tournament, the Silver and Black got an additional game to familiarize themselves with the beasts of the east. It’s hard to know how much that experience will be valuable tonight, because both the Spurs and the Knicks have improved by leaps and bounds since that game.

The Knicks are on a bender, having won their last 11 games in the playoffs, including sweeps in the last two rounds. As a side-effect of that, they haven’t played since May 25, when they beat the Cavs 130-93 in a game that wasn’t as close as the score. Meanwhile, the Spurs played on Saturday, beating the Thunder 111-103 in a game that was in doubt until Devin Vassel’s thunderous dunk with 4 seconds left. [see what I did there?]

The Spurs have benefited from the 3 days off since their final game, while the 8 days off for the Knicks might be a little too much for a team that’s looked razor sharp for a month. Can they continue their incredible run, or will the Spurs provide them with a tougher road that the primrose path of the Eastern Conference playoffs? The Spurs don’t list any players on the injury report, although I expect that De’Aaron Fox is not at full speed yet, because a high ankle sprain can take quite a while to recover from. Mitchell Robinson is listed a questionable with a broken bone in his right hand, which he suffered earlier this week in a non-basketball related incident. Word is that he’s expected to play with a brace on the injured hand, but that’s got to hurt. He’s not a good shooter, so it’s not expected that the hand is going to affect his shooting much, but he still could be effective in the paint and as an offensive rebounder, which is his greatest value to the Knicks.

The Spurs will go as far as their superstar takes them tonight, and he’s primed for another spectacular series opener tonight, like in Game 1 of the Thunder series where he played a game for the ages in a double overtime thriller. Hopefully tonight’s game will be as exciting as that game, but not as anxiety producing. Containing Brunson is key tonight, and Castle will probably get that assignment. Stephon has a history of rising to the occasion on defense, and while nobody can stop Jalen entirely, Castle can hopefully limit Brunson enough to keep him from breaking containment. Wemby will be in the paint to clean up any defensive errors, and that helps a lot.

The Spurs bench had a rough series against the Thunder until game 7, while they should have a better time against the Knicks, whose bench players aren’t quite as elite as the OKC bench. If the Spurs can hold up in the non-Wemby minutes, or even just limit the damage, I have a good feeling about this series. GO SPURS GO!!

Game Prediction:

Karl-Anthony Towns commits three fouls in the first three minutes of the game, and sits out the rest of the half. He ends up fouling out early in the third quarter, and blames a spicy taco in his post-game media availability.

San Antonio Spurs vs New York Knicks, NBA Finals, Game 1
June 3, 2026 | 7:30 PM CT
Streaming: ESPN
TV: ABC
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