Jalen Brunson puts on a gutsy display late in the game as the Knicks rally to take Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
SAN ANTONIO — The New York Knicks will lose a game and Jalen Brunson will endure a chilly finish to a game. That’s not in question. This is the question:
Will either happen in what’s left of the NBA Finals? Or will it happen next season?
Because when the championship series opened Wednesday, the Knicks and their leader stayed status quo in what has been a tremendous postseason for them. The winning streak is now 12, a dazzling dozen made possible by a fourth quarter comeback directed by, who else, Brunson and his strong sense of self-belief.
As a result, the Spurs were left stunned at home after a 10-point loss and no doubt feeling that they let one slip away. Or maybe it was snatched away? Perhaps a bit of both, actually.
What a run by the Knicks so far. They’ve lost only a pair of postseason games, each by a point in the first round. They’ve now won seven straight games on the road; plenty of teams don’t win seven straight postseason games, period.
This is all-time territory for a team that, no matter the circumstances, finds a way.
This game was tied at 76 points after three quarters. The Spurs led by as many as 14. Then came the Knick response — just one turnover by New York in the second half, plus a defense that tightened the grips, and Brunson … oh man.
“These guys are resilient, man,” said Knicks coach Mike Brown. “They get better as the game goes along.”
Here are the takeaways from Game 1:
1. Brunson’s confidence is unshakable
It is not unusual for a player, no matter how esteemed, to feel the effects of poor shooting. It’s human nature. In these situations, that player defers to teammates, sometimes deals with demons, gets shy in the clutch.
Then there’s Brunson. His Game 1 should be studied and copied and most of all, admired — how he shook free of a rash of poor shots to start the game and then shook up the Spurs.
He is not a selfish gunner. He’s a confident winner, the king of clutch. He believes, with plenty of justification, that the Knicks’ chances of winning are better with the ball in his hands in the moment(s) of truth.
Jalen Brunson leads the way for the New York Knicks with 30 points in a heroic Game 1 performance.
He shot 1-for-7 in the first quarter, then stabilized to 4-for-8 in the second, followed by a clunky 2-for-7 in the third. And what does he do in the final eight minutes of the game? Completely rewrite the script, dropping 13 of his 30 points.
“Just continue to trust the things I’ve worked on my entire life,” he said, explaining his mindset. “I think my teammates have the confidence in me, also gives me an extra boost, as well. I think it starts with my confidence. It comes with my work ethic. I think most importantly, knowing we’re on the road, and knowing my teammates have my back, I think that’s the biggest thing in an environment like this.
“The trust they have in me and the trust I have in them, it’s got us to this point. I mean, I’m very thankful for them every single night we go out there together.”
Two shots in that closing stretch now stand as the signature snapshot of this series until someone erases it.
First: His deep corner 3-pointer to give the Knicks the lead. Next: With 37 seconds left he followed up with a falling 15-footer with Devin Vassell painted all over him.
Also, it should be mentioned how Brunson went to the locker room, briefly, after his knee buckled in the second quarter. He deflected any concern about pain or injury and, evidently, his play upon returning confirmed as much.
All told, this was a championship-level opening statement by Brunson, and the Spurs are faced with a serious problem — which they knew they had before the game tipped.
2. Wemby seemed wheezy
Victor Wembanyama had the gait and the gasp of a man who just finished a marathon. At least that’s how it looked as Game 1 progressed; the Spurs’ center showed all the symptoms of a player who ran out of gas.
He was coming off a grueling seven-game series with the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder. And for much of the regular season, Wemby’s playing time was rationed; he averaged under 30 minutes a game.
In this first taste of the NBA Finals, he settled for too many 3-pointers, was sloppy with the ball (six turnovers) and just seemed disjointed over stretches of a 38-minute night.
Victor Wembanyama scores 26 points along with 12 rebounds in Game 1 against the Knicks.
And the few times he did sit for a spell, the Knicks seized advantage. The Spurs were up 13 points when Wemby went to the bench with a slight limp with seven minutes left in the third quarter. Two minutes later, their lead was six.
He had his least efficient game of this postseason, missing 15 of 21 shots, but said his confidence remains unshaken.
“I’m not kicking myself about anything, really,” he said. “I’m not worried in the slightest. We’re going to be so much better. I’m going to be so much better.”
3. Towns takes advantage of roaming Wemby
The Spurs entered this series with a dilemma — do they assign Wembanyama on Karl-Anthony Towns, who’s a dangerous deep shooter, and risk seeing him stray too far from the basket which limits his defensive impact? Or do they put a smaller defender on Towns and use Wembanyama in drop coverage?
Well, they chose the latter and Towns made them pay. In this game of chess, it was checkmate, Towns. He took only a pair of 3-pointers. Instead, he drove to the basket, either (a) passing by Wembanyama, or (b) getting to the rim before Wembanyama could recover from his “free safety” position.
Towns finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds, a solid effort. Also, his defense on Wemby was better than any offered up by the Thunder in the conference finals.
If Wembanyama didn’t know it in Game 1, he’s certainly aware that Towns is a far bigger threat, at both ends, than any he saw in the post-season to date.
“You just trust your work and trust your decision-making,” he said. “I try to be aggressive in the playmaking.”
4. Landry Shamet, the X-factor (barely over Josh Hart)
In very not-so-subtle ways, Shamet is carving his initials on this postseason for the Knicks. And mainly with his 3-point shooting. He went 11-for-12 from that distance in the conference finals. He was 3-for-6 in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
And yet his biggest bucket of the night was a layup, when the Spurs were caught napping. Surely they thought he was standing somewhere behind the arc when he slid into the paint to cap a Knicks’ rally and put them up two points.
For the third straight game he finished with double-digit scoring, this time 13 points, and at this point the evidence is in and it’s unimpeachable — Shamet must be respected by the Spurs’ defense, or else.
Landry Shamet and Jose Alvarado stop by The Association crew to talk about their Game 1 win over the Spurs.
Hart delivered a tough-man effort by grabbing a game-high 15 rebounds in 27 minutes, which made everyone forget he made just one basket.
His blue collar work was that effective.
But Shamet? Crazy to remember that, for three games in the first round, he was virtually removed from the rotation.
“You know, my job is my job,” he said, “be ready for whatever situation or moment you’re asked to step into, and that’s the only thing I think about. Not thinking about how it started, anything in the past. I’m thinking about Game 2 against San Antonio. You know, we’ll do the whole reflection and look back thing when it’s all said and done. But right now, that’s where I’m at.”
And he’s in a good place.
5. Harper or Fox?
The Spurs made a curious choice. With their lead slipping away and their mistakes mounting, the Spurs, perhaps showing loyalty, went with De’Aaron Fox over Dylan Harper. It was interesting if only because, to that point, Harper was their best player, Fox their most reckless.
Harper is no longer a rookie here in June; he’s a solid rotational player who creates and makes plays. This was on display throughout the first half when he scored 12 points with six rebounds, and he led the Spurs in scoring through three quarters. Then he disappeared.
Harper played just over three minutes in the final period, when the Spurs struggled and searched for a savior. Meanwhile, Fox had a tough outing all around, complete with mistakes at both ends and faulty shooting, even when left open. All told: Five fouls, three turnovers, three baskets.
It bears watching what happens from here, especially if those two drift in those same directions to start Game 2. Should Harper cut into Fox’s minutes? Or should the Spurs stick to the blueprint here in the championship round?
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Shaun Powell has covered the NBA since 1985. You can e-mail him at spowell@nba.com, find his archive here and follow him on X.
