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2026 NBA Finals

Captain Brunson Guides Knicks’ Ship

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SAN ANTONIO – (Wire Service Commentary) – Jalen Brunson fully understands what leading the New York Knicks to the NBA championship means for him, for his team and for the city of New York.

He’s heard it from Walt Frazier, who was a part of NBA championship teams in the Big Apple in 1970 and ’73. He’s talked about it with Bernard King and Patrick Ewing, stars who got the Knicks close in the 1980s and ’90s, and he’s lived it through his father, Rick Brunson, a former player and now an assistant coach for the team.

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Jalen Brunson knew what it would take to carry the Knicks to their first title in 53 years, the price he would have to pay to get his team to the Finals for the first time in 27 years, and what he would have to do to get the Knicks over the finish line against San Antonio and its superstar forward Victor Wembanyama, one of the league’s faces of the future.

Now it’s time to reap those rewards and put to rest one of the most dubious title droughts in pro sports history.

Brunson poured in 45 points, 29 in the second half, to lead New York to a come-from-behind 94-90 win over the Spurs in Game 5 of the Finals on Saturday night, clinching the best-of-seven series 4-1. Three of the Knicks’ wins came on the road with each of them coming down to the final minutes and requiring comebacks from New York.

Brunson, the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player, was the ticker that never flickered.

The 45 points tallied by Brunson set a Knicks record for a Finals game, supplanting the 38 scored by the legendary Willis Reed in 1970. Reed scored his in the third game of a series that went to seven and ended with the Captain literally willing New York to the title over the Los Angeles Lakers.

Brunson’s effort in this series was just as arduous and will go down in Big Apple lore with Reed’s performance in that distant Knicks championship run. The undersized New York captain took a beating as the Spurs employed four different players to defend him and knock him around every time he touched the ball. His bruises had bruises and his lumps had bumps.

“I’m hurting right now, oh, I do hurt right now,” Brunson, 29, said after the win. “I’m feeling maybe a little bit worn down physically just because of the game and what (San Antonio was) trying to do. Mentally, I feel fresh. I feel like that’s where I thrive. I’m just happy we’re able to find ways to win the games.”

There was nothing more San Antonio could do. Brunson was just too good. He’s one of just 11 different players to score at least 45 points in an NBA Finals game, for a total of 15 games.

San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson had a matter-of-fact response when asked what his team could have done differently against the Knicks star.

“Make (Brunson) score less points,” Johnson explained. “He’s aggressive. He got to spots. We were undisciplined at times. He got going, then he got going later on. He’s a heck of a player. He deserves everything he’s got.”

On a night when the Knicks got next-to-nothing offensively from Karl-Anthony Towns (two points) and OK production from Game 4 hero OG Anunoby (11 points, eight rebounds), it was up to Brunson to make the plays that produced the victory and the championship. His 15 points in the final quarter were one more than the rest of his teammates combined (14).

“You know, people say (Brunson is) too small. People say he’s a 1B or a 2B or whatever,” New York coach Mike Brown said of the three-time All-Star, listed at 6-foot-2. “He is a freaking 1A. He is an MVP candidate. Brunson — he is him, man, when it comes to New York basketball. He is freaking him.”

Brunson averaged 32.6 points per game in the Finals, scoring 30 or more in four of the contests. As hard as it is to fathom, he got better as the series went on, racking up 32, 36 and then 45 in the last three slugfests.

“That’s who Captain is, man,” Towns said about Brunson. “Captain always finds a way to get back into court and produce as a testament to who he is. It’s just his story, (he’s) never given up, always has been the underdog, always been looked down upon.

“Shout out to everybody (who) told him he couldn’t do it.”

After the final buzzer on Saturday, Brunson — a white towel over his head — ran on the floor toward half court, but he was overcome with emotion, and stopped and crouched near the scorer’s table. At his side were teammates Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges, his running buddies and fellow former stars at Villanova, loving him up before literally lifting Brunson to a standing position.

He had carried the Knicks to the title — and now, fittingly, it was his teammates that helped him to his feet. The weight of the world was lifted off his shoulders. The hopes and dreams of the whole of New York City and its rabid and vocal fan base had finally been realized.

After the game, Brunson clutched the Larry O’Brien Trophy and offered a weary smile. There’s a trip to the Canyon of Heroes in lower Manhattan in his and the Knicks’ future, as the team will be feted in the time-honored Big Apple parade tradition at long last.

It will be a day cherished for a generation of New Yorkers, an “I-remember-where-I-was-when” moment, for fans young and old.

Someday there might even be a statue of Brunson outside Madison Square Garden. If so, let’s hope it’s as tough and as durable as the man is himself.

–Steve Habel, Field Level Media

Earth to NY Knicks: Time to Land

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By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk

TRANQUILITY BASE – At approximately 8:30pm (EDT) on Saturday night, the New York Knicks will re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere. They must. They have a game to play.

After performing a miracle of the sporting nature, including the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history which was capped by an impossible dream final sequence and O.G. Anunoby’s incredible tip-in of a Jalen Brunson front rim-rocker three-point field goal attempt, the Knickerbockers have to put their Finals Game 4 victory in the overhead compartment, and must splash down in Texas, maybe somewhere in the Riverwalk of San Antonio.

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Re-entering the earth’s atmosphere is hard enough but splashing down in two to 24 feet of water – call it dirty water – stemming from a combination of recycled wastewater, natural groundwater springs or, maybe, at best, storm water run-off.

NASA has nearly perfected the scientific wonder of blasting a rocket ship through the earth’s atmosphere to orbit the big blue planet, or maybe even soar to the Moon or to go where no man has ever gone before. But, NASA’s HQ is about 200 miles East of San Antonio, a straight shot across I-10. On a good day, you can drive it in three hours. San Antone might have iHeart Media but they don’t have NASA.

The Knicks might prefer to land in Houston – near the Johnson Space Center – to play the Rockets. There’d be the revenge factor of 1994 when they lost to Rudy T, Hakeem and company with John Starks’ off the mark shooting in Game 7 of that series. This year, the New Yorkers could handle Türkiye’s Alperen Şengün but, instead, they’re messing with a different brand of basketball, taking on “The Freak of “la République,” Victor Wembanyama, a 22-year old, 7-foot-4 smooth operator of the game, one with moves, footwork beyond belief, defensive presence good enough to win the NBA’s All-Defensive Player of the Year as the youngest to ever accomplish the feat.

Wembanyama is so good, he was the first player in the league to take the All-D Player of the Year in unanimous fashion. At the ripe age of 22, Wembanyama is earning votes as the NBA’s Most Valuable Player. Someday soon, he’ll be known as the best player in the world.

Which brings us back to the exact kind of ship the Knicks’ new masters of jet-propulsion will need to come down from the exhilarating highs of their miracle on 33rd Street victory of Wednesday night to somehow side-step human nature, and the fatigue it inherits, otherwise known as an emotional high the City of New York has never seen before.

Yes, there was Bobby Thomsen’s “Shot Heard ‘Round the World,” but the black & white television signal barely made it to Staten Island, never mind to Glasgow (Scotland) where Thomsen was born. Transistor radio was delivery system of choice back in 1951 when “the Giants won the pennant.”

Yes, there was Willis Reed gimping out of the Madison Square Garden corridor to join his New York Knicks teammates on May 8, 1970 in Game 7 of the 1970 NBA World Championship Series to hit the first two jumpers of the game and propel his club to a 113-99 title-clinching victory. Even Howard Cosell might’ve been lost for words when he uttered, “You exemplify the very best that the human spirit can offer” to the injury-plagued, cortisone injected Reed.

Yes, there was the key play of Super Bowl XLII and an incredible Eli Manning scramble, shaking off defenders to toss a ball that tight end David Tyree somehow caught with his hand and his helmet in the 17-14 NFL Giants title-winning game on February 3, 2008.

Yes, there was Joe Namath’s guarantee for a wictory in Super Bowl III when Namath’s AFC Jets upset the NFC’s Baltimore, 16-7 on January 12, 1969.

NY Mets’ Cleon Jones Catches the Final Out of World Series (File)

Yes, there were the Amazin’ Mets of 1969, 10-games back of the Chicago Cubs in the National League East, who won the division by eight games, upset the favored Atlanta Braves in the NLCS, then – after dropping the first game of the 1969 World Series to the Baltimore Orioles – ran off four in a row, three at Shea Stadium in Queens, to take MLB’s World Championship.

And, yes, there were the New York Rangers who won the NHL’s Stanley Cup after a 54-year drought (1949-1994). NYR captain Mark Messier had willed the team to victory and his moment of raising the Cup might be the only thing to compare to the joy felt by Knicks fans on Wednesday night when they witnessed history and the greatest of comebacks in NBA Finals’ lore.

But, emotional highs are a dangerous villain.

The very San Antonio Spurs the Knicks face might’ve fallen victim to the emotional high of defeating the favored OKC Thunder (May 30, 2026) and blown Game 1 of this 2026 NBA Finals on June 3, when the Spurs led by 14 points with 6:31 left in the third quarter only to lose to New York, 105-95, when the final buzzer sounded on the Spurs’ home floor.

The sound of silence in San Antonio on June 3 and 5th, was quite the opposite of the sonic boom heard at Madison Square Garden on June 10th after New York erased a 29-point deficit.

We just had some experience with a sonic boom as a meteor attempted to enter the Earth’s atmosphere at the speed of 75,000 mph from a height some 40 miles directly over the Commonwealth. The sound created was equal to exploding 300 tons of TNT (and that’s not Turner’s network, but explosives).

It was quite unsettling and it proved what a difficult task NASA faces when our manned USA space ships return their cargo and precious human lives back to safety.

It’s a daunting task to return to Earth, so remember, splashdown for New York’s miracle is Saturday night, June 13, in the Riverwalk of San Antonio. And, remember too, winning three games in the NBA Finals is easy. Winning the fourth game is damn near impossible. But, every season, someone does it. Yes, a Sweet Sixteen victories in a lengthy NBA postseason.

These days of 2026, Space X can return a spacecraft to the launchpad standing upright, as if it’s never even left in the first place. If the Knicks can do so, and clinch the NBA’s coveted Larry O’Brien Trophy and NBA championship, O.G. Anunoby might earn a new nickname – The Original Galileo.

Comeback City

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NEW YORK – (Wire Service Report) – Mike Brown walked to the podium inside Madison Square Garden just before midnight on Wednesday, sat down and let out an exhausted sigh.

“Uhh, that was a good win by our guys, obviously,” the New York Knicks coach said.

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It was a lot more than that, and now the Knicks are one win away from a goal more than five decades in the making.

OG Anunoby’s tip-in with 1.2 seconds left capped the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history, as New York overcame a 29-point deficit to stun the San Antonio Spurs 107-106 in Game 4.

The Knicks, who trailed 81-52 in the third quarter, lead the best-of-seven series 3-1. They can clinch their first title since 1973 on Saturday night, when Game 5 will be played in San Antonio.

“Felt cool — I mean, everyone’s pretty excited, I’m excited too,” the normally poker-faced Anunoby said before breaking into a rare grin. “We’re all excited. We’re enjoying it right now, but we’re just focused on the next game now.”

The Knicks ended the game on a 55-25 run after Victor Wembanyama was whistled for a flagrant-1 foul on Karl-Anthony Towns with 9:27 left in the third. New York shot 52.6% (20-for-38) following the foul while holding the Spurs to 17.1% shooting (6-for-35), including 4-for-19 (21.1%) in the fourth quarter.

“To put as much good work into that first half as we did, get the lead that we had and not finish the job is disappointing to say the least,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said.

Jalen Brunson, the symbol of the Knicks’ stoicism, was asked if the Wembanyama foul sparked him and his teammates.

“Not necessarily, no,” Brunson said.

Earlier in his press conference, Brunson invoked a baseball analogy to describe the Knicks’ approach.

“We need to hit singles, get on base and make plays from there,” Brunson said.

New York scored 13 unanswered points after the Wembanyama flagrant foul and trailed 90-75 at the end of the third. The Knicks didn’t score on their first four possessions in the fourth as the Spurs extended the advantage to 95-75.

A 3-pointer by Jose Alvarado that rolled around the rim sparked the stunning final rally for New York. Consecutive 3-pointers by Alvarado and Jalen Brunson pulled the Knicks within 104-103 with 2:21 left. The Spurs turned the ball over, but Josh Hart missed a layup, after which Wembanyama missed two free throws.

Brunson then hit a floater to give the Knicks their first lead of the game with 1:22 left. The teams traded turnovers, after which Stephon Castle hit two free throws to put the Spurs up 106-105 with 30.3 seconds left.

After Brunson failed to hit a short shot, Anunoby blocked De’Aaron Fox’s layup attempt, setting up an inbounds play with 5.7 seconds left. Brunson missed a long 3-point attempt, but Anunoby, who was at the 3-point arc across the floor from Brunson, swooped into the paint, outleaped Dylan Harper and tapped the ball home as the sellout crowd roared.

“I don’t know if there was a play bigger than (that) in the history of Knicks basketball,” Brown said.

Towns, 7 inches taller than Harper, guarded the latter on the ensuing inbounds pass. Harper threw the ball over Wembanyama’s head, and Castle, surrounded by Mitchell Robinson and Josh Hart, couldn’t corral the ball or get a shot off as time expired.

“We, from the mud, found a way to get it done,” Towns said. “As anyone who lives in New York knows, if you want to make it in this city, you have to be OK getting out of the mud. And we did that tonight.”

The Knicks flooded the floor as a KNICKS WIN graphic flashed atop the scoreboard.

“Just happy that we found a way to come away with a win,” Brunson said. “But just there’s nothing — there’s nothing to celebrate. It’s not over yet, not even close.”

Brunson finished with 36 points, seven assists and five rebounds. Anunoby had 33 points and four rebounds after a pregame pep talk from Brown.

“I told OG — as big, as strong, as athletic as he is — he’s got to be a monster on the offensive glass tonight,” Brown said. “He took on the challenge and he went and won the game for us doing exactly what I called him out for during shootaround today.”

Towns added 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Wembanyama finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds. Harper scored 21 points off the bench for the Spurs, while Devin Vassell and Fox had 18 points each. Castle contributed 13 points.

Wembanyama (13 points) and Vassell (12) combined for 25 points during the first quarter, when the Spurs shot a blistering 65.2% — and held the Knicks to 29.4% shooting — to take a 41-22 lead.

The Spurs kept the Knicks at bay in the second, and San Antonio led by as many as 29 before ending the half with a 76-49 edge.

Now San Antonio must try to match the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers, the only team to overcome a 3-1 series deficit and win the NBA Finals.

“I think it’s going to go one of two ways,” Wembanyama said. “The bad one would be giving up. The good one would be getting stronger through this, getting more together. I know this is what we’re going to do.”

– Field Level Media

Spurs Strike Back vs NY Knicks

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NEW YORK – Stephon Castle feels the San Antonio Spurs didn’t accomplish much Monday night.

Even so, they did avoid falling into a historically unfriendly hole while ensuring the NBA Finals would get at least some of the length warranted by what has been a compelling matchup thus far.

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Victor Wembanyama produced 32 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three blocks Monday night for the Spurs, who got back into the NBA Finals by beating the red-hot New York Knicks 115-111 in Game 3.

The Knicks still lead the best-of-seven series two games to one. Game 4 is scheduled for Wednesday night in New York.

Castle added 23 points — 18 in the first half and five key points late in the fourth quarter — as the Spurs avoided falling into an 0-3 hole. No NBA team has ever overcome a three-games-to-none deficit in a best-of-seven series.

“I feel like we still haven’t really done anything,” Castle said. “Obviously we’re still down 2-1 and we’re looking forward to the next 48 minutes.

“Obviously it feels good to win, especially on the road after dropping two bad ones. But I think our confidence has been the same throughout this series regardless of what happens.”

Dylan Harper scored 13 points off the San Antonio bench while starters Julian Champagnie (12 points), De’Aaron Fox (12 points) and Devin Vassell (11 points) all got into double figures. Fox added eight assists.

Jalen Brunson scored 32 points on 11-of-25 shooting for the Knicks, whose 13-game winning streak — the second-longest postseason winning streak in NBA history — was snapped. The 2017 Golden State Warriors won their first 15 playoff games en route to the title.

“I tell the guys, it’s a seven-game series for a reason,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “They are a great team. They are well-coached. They have an iconic player. It’s not going to be easy.”

OG Anunoby had 28 points, hitting 9 of 13 from the floor, while Josh Hart put up 16 points. Karl-Anthony Towns chipped in with 11 points, and reserve Jordan Clarkson scored 10 points.

New York’s previous loss was a 109-108 setback against the Atlanta Hawks in Game 3 of an Eastern Conference first-round series on April 23.

“We didn’t do what got us 13 straight wins in a row — that’s how you lose a game,” Towns said. “We didn’t do what we’ve been doing for 13 (games). We decided to do something different, and it ain’t going to work.”

This is just the second NBA Finals in which the road team won the first three games. The Chicago Bulls took the first two games on the road in 1993 before the Phoenix Suns won Game 3. The Bulls won the series in six games.

“At home, it’s really like playing six against five — in here, it felt like five against six,” Wembanyama said with a grin. “It really shows what teams are made of.”

The Spurs showed some resilience Monday, when they squandered a 12-point first-half lead and fell behind 64-57 entering halftime. San Antonio blew a 14-point lead in a 105-95 loss in Game 1 and a 12-point lead in a 105-104 loss in Game 2.

On Monday, Champagnie scored the first six points of the second half, and the Spurs shot 50% (10 of 20) in the third while forcing four turnovers. San Antonio took the lead for good at 79-76 on Wembanyama’s 3-pointer with 5:02 left in the period.

 

Knicks on the Verge?

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NEW YORK – The New York Knicks being on the verge of an NBA title only feels unprecedented to the legions of fans who weren’t born the last time it happened in 1973. But the task in front of the San Antonio Spurs — winning the title after losing the first two games at home — really has never been achieved.

The Knicks will try to inch closer to a cathartic championship and the Spurs will aim to climb back into the NBA Finals when New York hosts San Antonio in Game 3 Monday night.

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The Knicks took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series Friday night. The host Spurs overcame a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit before Victor Wembanyama missed a jumper just before the buzzer as New York hung on for a 105-104 win.

The win was the 13th straight for the Knicks, who relied on their usual defensive stoutness as well as a resilience they hadn’t needed since May 19, when they overcame a 22-point fourth-quarter deficit to stun the Cleveland Cavaliers 115-104 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.

“It’s an amazing feeling as a coach to know how mentally tough your team is, no matter what the situation is in front of them,” Knicks head coach Mike Brown said. “To see them continue to fight and fight and fight and fight, no matter what the score is, no matter how much time is on the clock, it’s just a fantastic feeling.”

Winning Games 3 and 4 would not only match the longest postseason winning streak in NBA history — the Golden State Warriors opened the 2017 playoffs with 15 straight wins — but allow the Knicks to clinch their long-anticipated NBA title in New York, which has been buzzing for weeks.

“The NBA is tough,” Brown said. “You don’t get to experience what I’m experiencing with this group a ton. And it is a freaking joy to be around.”

Game 3 will be the first NBA Finals game in New York since June 25, 1999, when the Spurs clinched the championship with a 78-77 win in Game 5.

“Fans have earned the right and deserve the right to see Finals basketball be played here at Madison Square Garden,” said Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns, who grew up in New Jersey. “For this to be the first game in a long time that they have seen Finals basketball, it’s up to us to bring it, give them something to cheer for, give them something to get loud for and also give them something to believe in.”

The Spurs will need to create a historic moment of their own to win their first title since 2014.

San Antonio, which also squandered a double-digit lead in a 105-95 loss in Wednesday’s Game 1, is just the third team to drop the first two games of the NBA Finals at home. The 1993 Phoenix Suns fell to the Chicago Bulls in six games while the 1995 Orlando Magic were swept by the Houston Rockets.

“We need to capitalize — actually use all the efforts we (used),” Wembanyama said. “It felt like we did a lot, we did a lot of things wrong. But we also were relentless and kept pushing, but kind of wasted that effort.”

The Knicks have made things difficult for Wembanyama — and, by extension, the Spurs, whose 199 points over the first two games are by far their fewest in a two-game span in these playoffs.

Wembanyama is averaging 27.5 points in the first two games of the Finals, but he’s shooting 40.5% on 21 field goal attempts per contest. The 7-foot-4 matchup nightmare averaged 23.2 points per game while shooting 51% and hoisting just 15.2 shots per night over his first 17 playoff games.

Yet the increased volume in the Finals has come in an inconsistent manner for Wembanyama, who attempted eight of his 21 shots in the first half of Game 1 before he had just four shots in the first half Friday.

“I have to make sure there’s environments that the ball finds him,” Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson said. “There are times I think when he was open on rolls or around the paint and his teammates (have) got to give him the ball.

“But yeah, four shots in a half on this stage is not acceptable.”

– Field Level Media

Knicks Take Two

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SAN ANTONIO — There wasn’t a whole lot for the New York Knicks to like about the final six minutes of the fourth quarter of Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Friday.

Yet despite blowing a late 14-point lead, the Knicks looked up at the scoreboard after the final buzzer and saw that they had somehow done just enough to beat the San Antonio Spurs 105-104.

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The result sends the Knicks home with a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, with Game 3 set for Monday.

An exhausted Jalen Brunson leaned on his teammates after the win and offered up a weak smile. It was his steal with 9.5 seconds to play and subsequent free throw that proved to be the decisive play and point in a slugfest that saw the last team standing prevail.

“We could have folded a few times, but our guys just kept fighting,” New York coach Mike Brown said. “They kept fighting, and you work on connectivity throughout the course of the year for moments like these.

“No matter what run (San Antonio) went on, no matter what time of the game, our guys just kept uplifting one another. It’s an amazing feeling as a coach to know how mentally tough your team is no matter what the situation is in front of them.”

Brunson scored the Knicks’ first five points of the game but then went cold, entering the final quarter with just 13 points on 4-of-16 shooting from the floor.

San Antonio was making the Knicks star guard work for everything, and he was worse for wear, collapsing on the bench during each New York timeout down the stretch while trying to find the energy to help drag his team over the finish line.

“We have to do a good job of staying composed in those situations,” said Brunson, who finished with 20 points and just as many bruises. “Not (folding) in situations like that is key to winning games like this. At this stage of the season, things aren’t going to be pretty. It’s going to be ugly. It’s going to be grinded out. It’s simple as that.”

It was not easy. The Spurs were down 97-83 with 6:04 to play before their 14-0 spree, tying the game on Dylan Harper’s floater with 2:59 to play.

San Antonio shoved its way to the lead at 104-102 via a Victor Wembanyama three-point play with 57.3 seconds left. However, Brunson responded, pouring in a fadeaway jumper with 39.3 seconds remaining to level the score.

Brunson then missed a jumper with 13.5 seconds left, and Wembanyama grabbed the rebound. The Spurs star tried to pass to Stephon Castle, but Castle was not ready, and the ball bounced off his back and into Brunson’s waiting hands. Wembanyama fouled Brunson, setting the stage for the go-ahead free throw.

“That’s the most frustrating thing, to throw it away after putting in all this work,” said Wembanyama, who also missed a 20-foot shot in the final seconds. “I messed up. We didn’t play great as a team. We needed to win that game. This game was ours.Games

“But at this point, it’s done. Yes, am I going to regret it? Yes, of course. Am I going to use that to fuel me and to fuel us next game? Absolutely.”

Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said his team needs to bring the same intensity to the whole game as it had in its fourth-quarter comeback. With a young squad in the Finals spotlight for the first time, maturity and the ability to finish continue to be crucial factors.

“We showed tremendous desperation, urgency and competitive response (late in the game),” Johnson said. “We don’t feel like we played well, or up to our standard at least, in the last two games. New York has played very well, and that’s a part of that.

“But we’re going to go into Game 3 — if we play our brand of basketball up to our standard, we’ll be just fine.”

The Spurs might have the NBA’s ascending superstar player as the backbone for a youthful team with a high ceiling. But New York has Brunson, and he, along with a squad that keeps winning, presents a formidable obstacle for San Antonio to overcome.

The Knicks recorded their 13th straight postseason victory, moving them into second place all-time for consecutive playoff wins behind the Golden State Warriors (15 in 2017).

“I don’t know if you could say it was a rough shooting night (for Brunson),” said New York’s Karl-Anthony Towns, who led the team with 21 points and 13 rebounds. “I see ‘Captain Clutch’ doing what he’s always been doing since I got here. When it comes down to winning the game, No. 11 can’t be messed with.”

–Steve Habel, Field Level Media

Brunson Leads Knicks in G-1 of Finals

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SAN ANTONIO — (Staff and Wire Service Report) – New York’s magical guard Jalen Brunson was beaten and battered but not dismayed, and the Knicks star had enough energy to orchestrate a fine George Gervin impersonation with an Iceman-like final quarter in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. The Spurs icon surely appreciated Brunson’s zest for heroics but the city of San Antonio was stunned over an opening defeat as the red-hot Knicks controlled the final two minutes while prevailing 105-95 on Wednesday night.

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Brunson scored 13 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter and the Knicks overcame a 14-point third-quarter deficit to win their 12th consecutive playoff game, tied for the second-longest postseason streak in league history.

“Jalen was MVP in the second half,” New York coach Mike Brown said. “He was huge for us. He did what MVP candidates are supposed to do. He carried us home and we put the ball in his hands and he got it done for us down the stretch.”

Brunson had a rough time during the first half as he injured his right knee in the first quarter and his left ankle in the second.

Per the knee injury, Harrison Barnes of the Spurs and Landry Shamet of the Knicks were battling for position after a missed free throw and Barnes fell directly into Brunson’s knee with 1:27 remaining.

Brunson departed for the locker room and returned with 8:03 left in the second quarter. Two minutes later, Brunson hurt his ankle on a driving basket.

“When I saw him walk back to the bench, it was a relief feeling,” Knicks teammate Karl-Anthony Towns said of Brunson.

Brunson was just 7-of-22 shooting entering the final stanza before finding his groove. He hit 5 of 9 shots in the fourth.

“I think it starts with my confidence. It comes with my work ethic,” Brunson said of bouncing back. “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.”

The Spurs had few answers over the final 12 minutes when it came to slowing Brunson.

“He’s an elite player,” Spurs star Victor Wembanyama said of Brunson. “We’re going to have many more chances. It’s the first-to-four series. We’re going to have time to work on it.”

New York closed the game with 11 straight points while playing in its first NBA Finals game since 1999.

Towns contributed 18 points and 12 rebounds and Josh Hart was solid all-around with 15 rebounds, six assists, four steals and three points for the Knicks.

OG Anunoby produced 12 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter for the Knicks, who committed no turnovers in the final period. San Antonio gave the ball away five times over the final 12 minutes while shooting 28.6% (6 of 21) and being outscored 29-19.

Wembanyama registered 26 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots but made just 6 of 21 field-goal attempts.

“He missed a few shots early,” San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson said of the star Frenchman. “We got to him moving in space toward the rim.”

Stephon Castle had 17 points and eight rebounds, Julian Champagnie added 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Dylan Harper had 16 points off the bench.

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Friday night at San Antonio.

Shamet scored 13 points off the bench for New York, which shot 41.5% from the field, including 11 of 36 (30.6%) from 3-point range.

The Spurs connected on 36% of their field-goal attempts and were 11 of 43 (25.6%) from behind the arc.

Brunson scored eight straight points, including a driving hoop with 6:08 left to give the Knicks a 94-86 advantage. Wembanyama responded with eight points during a 9-0 run as the Spurs moved ahead 95-94 with 2:16 to play.

San Antonio wouldn’t score again, and Brunson drained a corner trey to put the Knicks back ahead with 1:50 left.

Mikal Bridges made two free throws, Brunson hit a jumper and Anunoby sank four consecutive free throws to seal it.

“Obviously, we’ve been down in a series before,” Wembanyama said. “Never in the Finals, obviously. But I’m not kicking myself about anything, really. I’m not worried the slightest.”

San Antonio led by seven at the break before scoring 10 of the first 13 points in the third quarter to take a 65-51 lead on Harper’s basket.

The Knicks responded with a 20-6 burst and knotted the score at 71 on Brunson’s jumper with 2:01 remaining in the third.

Knicks backup center Mitchell Robinson (broken right pinkie) played 13 minutes and had two points and six rebounds.

Champagnie had 15 points on five 3-pointers as the Spurs led 55-48 at the half. Brunson logged 11 in the half for New York.

–Field Level Media

Spurs Block Thunder’s Road to Finals

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OKLAHOMA CITY – (Wire Service Report) – Luke Kornet returned to the bench a hero.

The San Antonio Spurs backup big man had just turned in perhaps the biggest defensive play of Game 7 of the Western Conference finals, coming in for a stretch in relief of Spurs star Victor Wembanyama.

Wembanyama exited the game with five fouls and the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder had what seemed like a prime chance to seize control.

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But instead, Kornet blocked Isaiah Hartenstein just seconds after entering, the Spurs came through on the other end, and the Spurs were on their way to an NBA Finals berth with a 111-103 road win over the Thunder on Saturday.

“The definition of a winning play,” Wembanyama said.

San Antonio will open the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks at home Wednesday.

The teams have met in the Finals once before, with San Antonio winning the 1999 NBA Championship in five games.

It was the first of five titles for the Spurs. Their last visit was in 2014, when they beat the Miami Heat in five games.

In the playoffs for the first time since Wembanyama became the face of the franchise, San Antonio is four wins away from adding to that total.

Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said his team’s relative inexperience isn’t a limiting factor by this point.

“This team has now been pretty damn consistent for a long time, for over 100 games, for the most part,” Johnson said. “… I don’t know who has as much experience as we do this year in the season of 2025-26.”

The Spurs led for much of the game but struggled to put away the pesky Thunder, who continually battled back from double-digit deficits to get back within striking distance.

And when Wembanyama, who was San Antonio’s tone-setter throughout the series, left the game with five fouls with 6:48 remaining, the Spurs could have been in trouble.

Hartenstein’s steal got the Thunder in transition with a chance to cut the deficit to four.

But Kornet blocked Hartenstein’s shot, getting between Hartenstein and the basket, then Stephon Castle drained a pullup jumper for a 99-91 advantage.

Kornet headed to the bench just 59 seconds after he entered, and was greeted enthusiastically by the rest of the Spurs — including Wembanyama.

Coming out of that stoppage, Julian Champagnie drained his sixth 3-pointer of the game to stretch the lead back to 11.

The Thunder pulled back to six with just more than two minutes remaining, but Oklahoma City went 0-for-4 the rest of the way on chances to trim the deficit even further.

Wembanyama had 22 points and seven rebounds.

“I want to win so bad, it’s like my life depends on it,” Wembanyama said.

Wembanyama was named the Most Valuable Player of the Western Conference finals.

“He has such a vision, in my opinion, of who he wants to be as a person and as a player,” Johnson said. “And the commitment and investment that he puts into that vision, it’s nothing like I’ve ever seen before.”

Champagnie scored 20 and Castle, De’Aaron Fox and Dylan Harper also came up big for San Antonio.

“They were just the better team tonight, start to finish,” Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “And then every time we tried to like cut into and take control of the game, it felt like they had an answer.”

Gilgeous-Alexander had struggled in the series, shooting just 37.9% from the floor through six games, but looked much more like the back-to-back NBA Most Valuable Player in Game 7.

“I was a little bit closer to it, for sure,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.

He finished with 35 points on 12-of-21 shooting with nine assists and three steals.

“He was brilliant,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said.

But the other two of Oklahoma City’s big three — Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams — made little impact.

Williams missed his fourth game of the series with a hamstring injury, while Holmgren finished with just four points on 1-of-2 shooting. Holmgren didn’t attempt a shot after the first quarter.

His two field-goal tries were tied for the fewest of Holmgren’s career. His only other two-shot game came March 27, 2024.

Cason Wallace added 17 points, returning to the starting lineup with Williams and Ajay Mitchell out again.

Alex Caruso scored 12 off the bench but was just 3 of 14 from the field.

Kornet, who won a title with Boston in 2024, was all smiles after the game.

“Someone from the bench yelled, ‘Who is it, LeBron James?’” Kornet said of his block and referring to James’ block of an Andre Iguodala shot in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals. “We’ll see which one has more staying power in the record books of history.”

Gilgeous-Alexander sees plenty more matchups with the young Spurs in the future.

“They’re young, talented, well-coached, play the right way, seems like they like each other,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “They have the makeup. You don’t beat us without the makeup.”

–Field Level Media

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | May 24

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MLB, NFL, NHL and NBA trophies (Photo by T. Peter Lyons/Digital Sports Desk)

By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk

HOUSTON – Welcome to the entertainment and revenue producing portion of Digital Sports Desk and PGA Tour Brunch. It’s a pleasure to toss out a whole new discussion on some of sports greatest happenings.

It’s been in fashion – of late – to discuss the “best” sports by virtue of their Playoffs. Yes … it gets written in the papers and discussed on the sports radio talk shows every single year, even though it’s impossible to determine a definitive answer.

In the local paper, a columnist listed her best to worst as:

  • NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs
  • The NCAA Tournament … a.k.a. “March Madness”
  • The NFL Playoffs (including the Super Bowl)
  • MLB Postseason
  • The NBA Playoffs (including the NBA Finals)
  • World Cup (soccer) and MLS

That’s one writer’s opinion and its a worthy list.

But just after the column ran, on Monday, May 18, the San Antonio Spurs victory over Oklahoma City in 2-OTs of the NBA Western Conference finals game became Exhibit 1-A that the list written up in the Globe was flawed – the NBA Playoffs far exceed the NCAA’s.

Another key factor in list making, a lot of sports were overlooked, including College Football and its National Championship coming from the CFP Playoffs. That’s been a welcome addition to the postseason smorgasbord

While the annual PGA TOUR FedEx Cup Playoffs aren’t great, the even equivalent to the Playoffs are golf’s Majors – never mind the Ryder Cup. Those golf outings can be pretty exciting. Same thing with tennis, as a five set tie-break to win the U.S. Open in front of a raucous crowd in Flushing Meadow can be amongst the greatest things in sport.

What about horse racing? The Breeders’ Cup is like having seven World Series games on one afternoon. But, maybe, the better comparison is the Kentucky Derby – known as the greatest two minutes in sports. Go ahead and Google “Affirmed” and “Alydar”and tell everyone who will listen that those races aren’t on a list of the greatest and most exciting moments in sports.

Now – full disclosure – I do think that a Game 7 “sudden death” overtime of the NHL Stanley Cup Final is the most exciting thing sports has to offer. So a high five to our local columnist, Tara Sullivan of the Boston Globe.

SPEAKING OF SUDDEN DEATH: The term “Sudden Death” is quite a descriptive phrase to say what has to be said to decide a playoff game or, in some cases, a series or championship. It’s brutal. The pressure is off-the-charts. But, upon further review, here’s a dozen of other very descriptive terms from the world of sports that each carry some weight.

  1. The Suicide Squeeze
  2. The Blitz
  3. Crackback Block
  4. Student Body right
  5. The Two Minute Warning
  6. The Baltimore chop
  7. Defensive indifference
  8. The NHL’s “Original Six”
  9. The alley-oop
  10. One of the great, descriptive monikers to pay proper respect to one of – if not the – greatest rivalies in sports is “El Classico.” Real Madrid and F.C. Barcelona stop the entire nation of Spain when they face each other (at least) twice a year.
  11. As “classic” as “El Classico” sounds in this category of greatness, the MLS might have one moniker just as wonderful. When the LA Galaxy face LAFC in a rivalry for all of Los Angeles to see, the matchup is referred to as “El Traffico.” – Beat that!

Darkness on the Edge of Causeway

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: The house is dark. The Garden’s ghostlight is on, but Bruce Springsteen is coming. The Celtics were up three-games-to-one against a Philadelphia 76ers team that hadn’t beaten the Boston in a NBA Playoff series since Billy Cunningham coached a 1982 Sixers’ team, and the Cs blew it. The hometown team– once invincible in Game 7s – has left the TD Garden dark. The Sixers moved on to meet the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals and were mowed down by a superior team. The Knicks will face Cleveland for the right to play in the NBA Finals.

The Celtics “Owe Us One.”

The Boston Globe Sports Section of May 3 told the Story (Boston Globe)

But, it gets worse.

The TD Garden was witness to a suspect Boston Bruins team losing to the once-lowly Buffalo Sabres a night before the Celtics were sent to see St. Peter. The Sabres hadn’t won a Stanley Cup playoff series in 19 years, while the Sixers hadn’t beaten the Celtics in the playoffs since 1982, a mere 44 years. The Sabres lost to Montreal who are now playing Carolina for right to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

It’s understandable how the Bs lost, but how could the Celtics collapse in such epic fashion?

Let us count the ways:

o Live by chucking 3s; Die by chucking 3s: In their four losses to Philadelphia, the Boston Celtics shot 49-for-191, or 25.7%.

  • Game 5 (April 28): Shot 28.2% (11-of-39) from three in a 113-97 home loss.
  • Game 6 (April 30): Shot 29.3% (12-of-41) from three in a 106-93 loss in Philadelphia.
  • Game 7 (May 2): Shot 26.5% (13-of-49) from three in a 109-100 series-clinching loss at home.

o Nick Nurse, the head coach of the Sixers and a champ when he coached at every level, including an NBA Finals title with the Toronto Raptors, can flat-out coach. Yes, he was graced with a resurgence from one-time NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid, but Nurse guided the Sixers masterfully. Expected NBA Coach of the Year, Joe Mazulla of the Celtics, was out-coached.

o Face facts: A starting five of: Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Ron Harper Jr., Luka Garza, and Baylor Scheierman could not cut it in a decisive NBA Playoff game. That group will never be compared to Danny Ainge, Dennis Johnson, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish. The team of Celtics so many NBA pundits expected for 2025-26 finally showed up. The absence of true “bigs” caught up with the team of green. Remember Al Horford? He was pretty good.

Two Boston pro teams were whooped on their home turf. They’re gone by May 2 and only Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band can bring life to the backstreets of the West End (May 24th), because on Saturday night, it seemed you could hear the whole damn city crying. Springsteen might say, “Blame it on the lies that killed us, blame it on the truth that ran us down.”

The truth was the fact the Celtics could not endure a full season without their best player, Jayson Tatum.

While Tatum orchestrated a miraculous (and quick) return from the devastating right Achilles’ injury he suffered in the 2025 NBA Playoffs, and performed quite well from his March 6 return to active duty right on through to an incredible Game 3 shooting performance against the Sixers in Philadelphia, a sore left knee and discomfort that forced him to leave Game 6, also ruled him out just hours before Game 7.

Nine years into his NBA career, the 28-year-old Tatum is feeling the effects of 729 NBA regular season and playoff games.

Boston’s wonderkid GM, Brad Stevens, cannot be blamed for inactivity.

Stevens was faced with a choice of trading one of his “Big Two” of Tatum or Jaylen Brown, and possibly dismantling the 2024 NBA championship team somewhere short of a total rebuild. Instead, being faced with an aging Celtics team and a double secret probation by far exceeding the NBA’s agreed upon maximum team salary zones – the Cs – via Stevens’ surgical strike on salaries – dipped under both the First and Second Aprons of the NBA’s salary cap structure by reducing the team payroll for the 2025-26 season to a mere $187,885,254.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, the New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors are all over $200 million and face limitations in their wheeling and dealing. Stevens and the Celtics do not.

The cost (saving) came when the Celtics jettisoned veteran bigs Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis. Both players contributed mightily in the 2024 NBA Finals with Porzingis’ astonishing Game 1 performance which won the most important game of the series at Boston. If you remember, with Porzingis coming off the bench for just the second time in his career and playing in his first game (June 6) since he had sustained a calf injury in late April, Porzingis scored 20 points, including 18 in the first half, and added six rebounds and three blocks as the Celtics defeated the Dallas Mavericks 107-89 to send a statement to the Texans.

Horford provided even more. The veteran center was an influential presence in the locker room, an intangible for NBA teams destined for good things to come, for chemistry, for facing and conquering adversity, and for winning championships. Horford was the whole package, plus, he hit three-pointer after three-pointer, drawing opposing centers away from the basket and allowing Tatum and Brown to operate inside.

Horford was traded to the Golden State Warriors in September 2025, signing a multi-year deal, and continuing into his 19th NBA season.

Boston’s other cost-saving move was to send multi-talented guard Jrue Holiday and his $32.4 million contract to the NBA outskirts of Portland, Oregon (not Maine). Holiday was another veteran, positive influence and key contributor to the 2024 championship, especially on the defensive end of the basketball court.

All of those moves put together allowed the Celtics to avoid the NBA’s punitive luxury taxes. The more stable payroll paved the way for new ownership as the franchise was sold by the longtime ownership group headed by Wyc Grousbeck for a then-record $6.1 billion. The new group, led by Bill Chisholm, paid an amazing amount of cash considering Grousbeck bought the team for $360 million in 2002. Brad Stevens should be a longtime fixture in the Celtics’ front office, at the top of basketball operations.

A look over to the Fens, just past the Longwood Medical Center, and the prognosis isn’t much better. The Red Sox are floundering in the AL East basement. The offense is anemic and the middle relievers count runs against, ERA and Whip as though they were all MIT graduates. The brown paper bags are making a fashion statement and Jason Veritek’s wife is pouring on the sarcastic quips aimed at Sox GM, head of baseball Craig Breslow. Veritek “is being re-assigned” within the organization after Breslow leveled the coaching staff, including manager Alex Cora. There’s no AC and no DC in the Sox bats. No static at all.

But, there’s one thing worse than a dark June at the TD Boston Garden, and that was a dark May. Only Bruce Springsteen’s rock show on May 24th will bring some “glory days” back to Boston.

Bruce Springsteen (file photo)

The memories of 2018 and a club record of 108 wins is long gone. Those were, indeed, the glory days.

And, one thing’s sure of the glory days.

They’ll pass you by.

TIDBITS & NUGGETS: Get this? The Detroit PWHL team named former ice hockey goalkeepeer Manon Rheume as General Manager. Back in 1992, Rheaume became the first woman to appear in an NHL exhibition game when she started in goal for the Tampa Bay Lightning. The great goal scorer Phil Esposito NHL Bruins and Rangers) was the head of hockey ops. It was the first time an entire crowd at an NHL game concentrated 100% of their attention on defense! It was fabuloius (and I can attest, because your fave columnist (and his wife) were there. Rheaume joins the PWHL team after four years with the LA Kings in hockey operations and an 11-year tenure with the Little Caesars AAA hockey programs. … And, for you Pink Panther fans out there, Detroit can answer to the affirmative if asked, “Do you have a Rheaume?”

WWYI doesn’t want to leave anyone hanging after a report. Last week, the column included the fact the Vegas Golden Knights will forfeit a second-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft after repeated violations of the league’s media relations policies. The NHL’s statement last week left open the possibility of a Golden Knights appeal of the decision. They did appeal, and the NHL shot it down. Fast.

Twin Bill: The NBA announced that the New Orleans Pelicans and the San Antonio Spurs will play regular season games at the Accor Arena in Paris, France, on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2027, and at Co-op Live in Manchester, England, on Sunday, Jan. 17, 2027, as part of the league’s multiyear slate of regular season games in Europe.

The NBA Paris Game 2027 presented by Tissot will mark the 16th game featuring an NBA team in France since 1991 and the league’s sixth regular-season game in Paris. The NBA Manchester Game 2027 will mark the 20th game featuring an NBA team in England since 1993, the league’s second game in Manchester and first regular-season game in the city.

NBA Finals Schedule: In case you’re wondering, these dates are locked.

NBA Finals – All games are scheduled for 8:30 p.m. EDT

The Finals will stat in the West as both OKC and San Antonio have better records than Cleveland and New York.

Game 1: Wednesday, June 3

Game 2: Friday, June 5

Game 3: Monday, June 8

Game 4: Wednesday, June 10

Game 5: Saturday, June 13*

Game 6: Tuesday, June 16*

Game 7: Friday, June 19*

SPEAKING OF THE 2026 NBA Finals: For the historians in the group, this year will mark the 40th year of the league switching from the “NBA World Championship” to “The NBA Finals.” – Cap “F” – and that takes us back to 1986.

At one point in 1983, the NBA went for “Showdown ‘83” as the moniker for the Playoffs and Finals, but everyone – pretty much – just called it The Finals. And, it worked. Loook for a major US publication to do a blow-out feature on this topic.