For a lot of the night time, the San Antonio Spurs regarded like they have been going to start out open the 2026 NBA Finals with an announcement win. As an alternative, they have been left strolling off the court docket in disbelief.
The New York Knicks closed the sport on an 11-0 run over the ultimate two minutes Wednesday night time, turning a 14-point third quarter deficit right into a 105-95 victory over the Spurs in Sport 1 of the NBA Finals at Frost Financial institution Heart. With the win, New York stole homecourt and took a 1-0 collection lead within the best-of-seven championship collection.
Moreover, San Antonio misplaced its first NBA Finals Sport 1 in franchise historical past.
”I do know there was a mix of some instances defensive breakdowns, whether or not it was communication or rotations,” Spurs Head Coach Mitch Johnson stated of the Spurs shedding their double-digit lead within the second half. “There was a number of instances it felt like we didn’t have an applicable offensive possession.”
The Spurs appeared to have weathered each punch that New York threw at them within the first half, taking a seven level lead into the locker room. Then, they constructed a double-digit lead within the second half, fed off a roaring residence crowd, and watched Victor Wembanyama start to slowly discover his rhythm late.
Then Jalen Brunson took over for the Knicks. He scored 13 of his game-high 30 factors within the fourth quarter as he powered his crew to a shocking collection opening win. Karl-Anthony Cities added 18 factors and 12 rebounds, whereas OG Anunoby chipped in 17 factors for New York, who returned to the Finals for the primary time since 1999.
Wembanyama had a Finals debut to neglect, ending with 26 factors whereas taking pictures simply 6-for-21 from the ground. He added 12 rebounds in a shedding effort.
“I’m going to determine it out. I used to be dangerous tonight,” Wembanayama stated after the sport. “It’s no more difficult than that.”
“We’d like the strain on the rim and the drive within the paint,” Coach Johnson added. “They did job of clearly being bodily and displaying crowds. We have to do a greater job of creating that early on.”
With the Spurs’ star struggling offensively, the Spurs needed to look elsewhere for factors. Rookie Dylan Harper scored 16 factors off the bench, Stephon Fort added 17, and Julian Champagnie supplied an early spark with 15 factors within the first half. De’Aaron Fox by no means discovered his offensive rhythm as he completed with simply seven factors on 3-for-13 taking pictures from the ground.
What started as a promising night time for the Western Convention champions ended with a quiet area and a celebration by the Knicks followers who made the journey to Texas as New York prolonged its playoff profitable streak to 12 video games.
The Spurs now face a well-recognized problem: attempt to reply after a playoff loss. They dropped Sport 1 of their second-round collection in opposition to Minnesota earlier than responding in Sport 2 and have been additionally down 2-1 and 3-2 to the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder within the Western Convention Finals earlier than an exciting Sport 7 win to succeed in these Finals. To keep away from heading to New York in a deep 0-2 gap, they’ll want an analogous response when the collection resumes Friday night time in San Antonio.
“We’ve been down in a collection earlier than,” Wembanyama stated. “By no means within the finals, clearly. However I’m not kicking myself about something. I’m not fearful within the slightest.”
Sport 1 provided a painful reminder of how slim the margin for error might be on basketball’s largest stage. For 46 minutes, the Spurs regarded able to take early management of the NBA Finals.
The ultimate two minutes belonged to Brunson and the Knicks.
