The Spurs defeat the Knicks, 115-111, in Game 3 of the NBA Finals, pulling the series within a game at 2-1.
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NEW YORK — Halftime of Game 3 of the the Finals came at just the right time for the San Antonio Spurs.
Game 3 was the third game in which the Spurs lost a double-digit lead. They blew a 14-point, fourth-quarter lead in Game 1 and a 12-point, second-quarter lead in Game 2. On Monday, they were up 12 again early in the second, only to allow the New York Knicks to score an amazing 42 points on 23 possessions in the period.
A 12-point lead had become a seven-point deficit, and the Spurs needed to respond, or they were looking at a 3-0 series deficit, one that no NBA team has every climbed out of.
Respond, they did. The Spurs came out of halftime with a 35-27 third quarter, easily their best offensive quarter of the series. They took a one-point lead into the fourth and, though this was another nail-biter, they never gave it up. Stephen Castle hit a clutch 3-pointer and his two free throws sealed a 115-111 victory that ended the Knicks’ 13-game winning streak and made this a 2-1 series.
1. A timely break
When you’re on the wrong end of the kind of run that the Knicks had in the second quarter, it’s nice to have 15 minutes instead of just two to gather yourselves and figure things out.
For the Spurs, halftime on Monday was like the All-Star break for a team on a losing streak … without the beach and margaritas. The Madison Square Garden crowd had no choice but to quiet down after the Knicks had seemingly taken control of the game.
“It’s like a fight,” De’Aaron Fox said afterward. “A UFC fight, boxing fight, whatever it is. You get hit. You’re wobbly at the end of a round. We gave up 42 points and only scored 24 points in that quarter. It was a break we needed. We didn’t need to waste a timeout.”
“Time to time really to catch your breath,” said Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson, “discuss things you need to improve upon or what you’ve seen out there that can hopefully help each other in the second half.”
Said Fox: “We’re thinking to ourselves how can we get back to playing the way we were playing [earlier in the game]: with the ball moving, getting stops, not giving up offensive rebounds, not turning the ball over.”
2. Spurs’ offense comes alive
Victor Wembanyama finishes with 32 points, eight rebounds, six assists, two steals and three blocks in a Game 3 win.
Offense has been a struggle for the Spurs, who scored an anemic 100.5 points per 100 possessions through the first two games. The first half of Game 3 (57 points on 48 possessions) was their best offensive half of the series at that point, but they went into halftime scoring just three points on their final seven points of the second quarter. The Knicks, meanwhile, scored 14 on their final six trips down the floor.
But the game turned back around at the start of the third period. The Spurs forced a few turnovers and scored 15 points on their first eight possessions to take the lead back.
“I thought we came out in the third quarter with the right approach,” Johnson said, “got some stops, had some good execution.”
Julian Champagnie got things started with a layup via a flare screen from Victor Wembanyama. On the next possession, Wembanyama skipped a pass to Champagnie for a 3-pointer from the left wing, with Jalen Brunson also getting called for a flagrant foul.
“We came out in the second half,” said Fox, continuing his “fight” analogy, “and we hit them first, tied the game up quickly.
“It kind of felt like a new game for us.”
Transition opportunities followed, Dylan Harper came off the bench and carried the Spurs late in the period, and they finished with 35 points on just 22 possessions (1.59 per) in the quarter.
Eight Spurs played in the third quarter and seven of them scored. The only better offensive quarter in this series was the one (the Knicks’ second) that they were responding to.
It was a championship-level response in a hostile environment and with their season (basically) on the line. The kind of response the Knicks have been coming up with time and time again during these playoffs.
And it sets up Game 4 on Wednesday (8:30 ET, ABC), the biggest game of the season to date.
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John Schuhmann has covered the NBA for more than 20 years. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Bluesky.
