The New York Knicks are back in the NBA Finals for the first time in 27 years. As it turns out, of all possible opponents, the San Antonio Spurs will be waiting on the other end in a rematch of the 1999 Finals.
San Antonio will have a slight edge over New York, holding home-court advantage thanks to its better regular-season record. The Knicks, however, enter the Finals having won both the regular-season series against the Spurs and the NBA Cup final.
Truth be told, this matchup will certainly not
lack sublime basketball or star power. From bona fide MVP candidates Jalen Brunson and Victor Wembanyama to legitimate All-Stars Karl-Anthony Towns and De’Aaron Fox, the series is loaded with talent. Add in a host of established and rising stars such as OG Anunoby, Dylan Harper, Mikal Bridges, and Stephon Castle, and the stage is set for a compelling showdown.
As usual, the Posting & Toasting crew has gathered once again around the round(ball) table to cut through the noise and tackle the pressing questions surrounding New York’s Finals matchup with the San Antonio Spurs. Our panel of basketball geniuses took on the juiciest topics:
How many games will the Knicks-Spurs NBA Finals last, and who wins the title?
Antonio: Six. It’s all been about the West Coast this, the Spurs/Thunder that, and everybody seems to have 1) skipped the Knicks’ scorching run through the Eastern Conference bracket or 2) just decided it’s better to simply just forget about it. In any case, all those are wrong, and New York is playing the best basketball these days, whether they like it or not. The Spurs are damn weird—because of Wemby and their neophyte squad—that I refuse to believe they won’t put up a fight. It’s still NYK bringing it back home at the end of the day and in front of the Knicks faithful.
Miranda: I dunno. Every other round I had a sense, usually pretty short. I don’t expect either team will be swept, be it literally or gentleman-arily, so that only leaves choosing six or seven games, which you already know is the likeliest outcome. So I’ll say Knicks in eight.
Zeno: Oh baby. I can’t believe we’re here. It won’t truly set in until I turn on ABC on Wednesday night, but I can feel the butterflies already. Contrary to the way the Knicks have played for the last month-plus and the general feeling among NBA fans that the West is so ridiculously better than the East, this series will go at least six games. If the Knicks win, it’s going six. If the Spurs win, it’s going seven. We’re Knicks fans, and dammit, I believe. Knicks in six.
Kento: The traumatized fans in me has been at odds with the more optimistic side of that has seen this team run through the Eastern Conference in historic fashion. The Spurs will be the toughest team the Knicks have faced, and it’s more likely that it goes seven games than it is for the Knicks to sweep like they did the last two series. But I just think the Knicks are deeper, more talented, and more experienced team, matchup better than any of the Spurs’ past opponents, and it feels like that special something is in the air with this team. I’ve taken the Knicks in five or six in each of the last three series, and I won’t stop here. The Knicks capitalize on the big opportunity, and win it in six.
Polaniecki: I’m going the full seven. This one is going to be a barn burner. There’s an old saying: “A playoff series doesn’t really start until the road team wins a game.” I could see this series heading back to San Antonio for Game 7 with neither team stealing one on the road. Of course, if the Knicks win Game 7 in San Antonio, that theory would kind of contradict itself. In that case, the series would start and end at the exact same time.
Beyond Jalen Brunson, who is the most important Knick in the NBA Finals?
Antonio: Must be Towns this round, both offensively and defensively. Even if the Spurs place Wemby on Hart, it’ll be key to have Towns moving around and playing QB to have San Antonio’s heads spinning and to mess with their assignments and coverages. Not to mention Towns taking advantage of his bulkier frame to deal with Wemby inside and punish him physically as much as possible. The Alien has the height, but the cat must flex his muscles.
Miranda: Mikal Bridges. Pretty simple. If he scores 18 a game on 80/60/100 splits like he has the past month, while remaining demonically disruptive on D, then the Knick wings have a great chance to outplay the Spurs’, and thus a better chance to win the series. If Bridges morphs back into milquetoast Dr. Jekyll, there won’t be anywhere in NYC for him to Hyde.
Zeno: OG Anunoby. While I do think that Mitch’s broken pinky could be a massive factor, he wouldn’t play enough either way for him to usurp the man who has been statistically the best Wemby stopper in the league. His hamstring has gotten plenty of time to heal, having only played four games in four weeks, and he looked like he got his burst back at the end against Cleveland. If things go right, Anunoby could be a dark horse to win Finals MVP, ala Andre Iguodala.
Kento: Hart will be important too as his shooting could help nullify the Spurs’ ghost coverage, but we’ve seen that Brown has learned to keep that leash short, and lean on Shamet, and McBride when needed. But Towns’ ability to continue being an offensive hub, stretch the floor, punish cross matchups, while being a much improved defender could be the main difference. If Towns can be the third best player in the series, and do so by a wide margin, New York should have two of the three best, and most impactful players in the Finals. And given the depth they have outside of Brunson and him, they should like their chances should Towns accomplish that.
Polaniecki: Without a doubt, it’s Karl-Anthony Towns. I might even go as far as saying he’s more important to the Knicks winning this series than Jalen Brunson.
That’s not to take anything away from Stephon Castle or Dylan Harper. Both are capable of having huge moments and swinging games in San Antonio’s favor. But when you look at the Spurs, everything still revolves around Victor Wembanyama.
How Towns matches up with Wemby on both ends of the floor remains to be seen. If Towns can pull him away from the basket offensively while also holding his own defensively, it could completely change the complexion of the series.
The Spurs will go as far as Wembanyama takes them. His leadership and performance will be the driving force behind everything they do, which makes the Towns-Wembanyama matchup one of the biggest storylines of the Finals.
What must New York do to win the Finals and avenge the loss to San Antonio from 1999?
Antonio: Halt the Spurs’ pace and don’t let them click from three-point range. Keeping the defense at the level it’s been for the first three rounds of the playoffs would be optimal, but it’s obviously asking a ton to demand the team to keep putting on shows like the last 11 times we’ve watched them play. The Spurs have dethroned the reigning champs and are hellacious in both D&O while playing quick ball. The Knicks have a strong 3P% compared to the Spurs’ percentage, and if they can keep it that way and KAT does his thing all around the court, that’d be massive.
Miranda: Second question first: let 1999 go. Even if the Spurs did kill the Knicks then, think of it as a mercy killing. Those Knicks won their championship getting to the Finals, period. Ain’t no vengeance to be had. To win this time? Well, in ‘99 the Knicks nearly had the series going back to San Antonio for Game 6, before a jitterbug-quick southpaw point guard hit the critical, corner baseline jumpers that lifted the Spurs to the title. So I guess whatever the Knicks do, if it’s late and close don’t ignore De’Aaron Fox in the corner.
Zeno: Defend the perimeter. Wemby is going to get his, but the Spurs can be deadly offensively outside of him, specifically by using his gravity to their advantage. We all remember what Julian Champagnie did on New Year’s Eve, and we saw how guys like Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell, and Dylan Harper knocked down clutch shots in Game 7. A disciplined defense is the key to a parade down the Canyon of Heroes.
Kento: Win the possession battle. If the Knicks can limit turnovers against a younger more athletic team, while forcing their inexperienced backcourt to cough up turnovers, the game could easily swing. The same can be said for the rebounding battle. The Spurs struggled to keep the Thunder off the offensive glass in game seven of the Western Conference Finals, and had troubles with the Knicks’ offensive rebounding during the regular season as well. If the Knicks can win those battles, the Spurs, and especially Wembanyama, may eventually tire out, and their elite defense may falter.
Polaniecki: Game 1 could very well decide this series, and stealing it on the road won’t be easy, especially if it comes down to the final minutes. Those kinds of losses can be deflating.
The Knicks are going to have to shake off the rust quickly. Remember how slowly they came out in Game 1 against Cleveland? They can’t afford a start like that this time around. San Antonio is too good to spot an early lead, particularly on its home floor.
What concerns you most about the Knicks entering the Finals?
Antonio: Others here have experience with past Knicks trips to the Finals. I have not. I have no damn clue how these dudes might or might not react to operating under the brighter lights. I have never followed any sort of run like this closely, far from it. It’s been 11 consecutive wins, and I live in constant fear that it just cannot realistically be happening and will end abruptly and catastrophically. Will all of the good be karma’d by an awful Finals? Will Mitchell Robinson’s pristine bill of health come down crashing at the worst possible time? Will Josh Hart forget how to shoot a rock? Will Mikal Bridges return to his Bench Mikal version? Will Shamet, Clarkson, and Deuce turn into bland bench players? Everything points toward a huge NO, at least not to all the questions above, but I won’t believe it till I see it.
Miranda: That Donald Trump will use his tanking Q rating and the buzz around the Knicks to come to MSG with the series on a knife’s edge, fake an assassination attempt and use that to attack Zohran Mamdani’s leadership and New York’s autonomy. And that his friend James Dolan will use his illegal-if-not-unethical facial recognition tech to finger the wrong people for it.
Zeno: The unknown. This is uncharted territory for an entire generation of fans, including myself. You’re always waiting for the other shoe to drop. In a basketball sense, I wonder how this team will handle two things: not having home court advantage for the first time and the expected adversity. They haven’t experienced defeat in 40 days. When it inevitably happens, how quickly can they flush it? Can they avoid going down 0-2 heading home to the Garden? There’s a multitude of things to think about.
Kento: Mitchell Robinson’s health. One of the major reasons Knicks fans preferred to face off against the Spurs, and not the Thunder, was because of the Knicks’ unique ability to make things more difficult for Wembanyma than almost any other team. Robinson was a big part of that. Towns, given the defense has played, and Anunoby will still provide some resistance, and their strength could wear the young big man down over the course of what could be a long, and physical series. But the Knicks’ chances of winning it all increase greatly if Robinson is effective.
Polaniecki: Adding another disappointment to the Knicks decades long book of disappointments.
Heading into the Finals, what gives you the most confidence about New York amid its postseason run?
Antonio: The fact that they have put together such a great postseason run for a long, sustained period of time and against three different teams, that they come into the Finals uber-rested for the second consecutive series, and that, for all the Nova Knicks jokes out there, it actually feels like the group is so close and the chemistry so pure that this team is simply going to fight through whatever they face and still come out on top. Due’s due.
Miranda: This is the best Knicks team I’ve ever seen, playing the best basketball I’ve ever seen. The most balanced, with meaningful depth and the right mix of experience and not-old-yet. Their offensive (Brunson) and defensive linchpins (OG) are as good as any in the game today. Missing out on the Thunder was a break, iff only to the extent that the Spurs aren’t quite as large and accomplished as OKC. Also, it’s been 27 seasons since the Knicks last lost in the playoffs to a Western team. I bet they can keep that streak going.
Zeno: As I said, they haven’t lost in 40 days. It’s very rare that a team has this dominant a playoff run and loses. This team is an absolute juggernaut right now and is playing with a level of swagger that we haven’t seen before, but they’ve also remained levelheaded and locked in on the ultimate prize. No matter what happens next, they’re etched into history for what they’ve done to this point, and there’s no reason to doubt them at this point. They will fight their asses off for this city.
Kento: Everything we’ve seen in the last two series. During their historic run, the Knicks have answered so many questions that we had about them entering the postseason. Brunson has flourished playing off the ball more. Towns has been playing the best two-way ball of his life. Anunoby has seemingly reached new heights on offense. Bridges has regained his confidence on offense, and is playing more physically defensively at the point-of-attack. Hart has shown more willingness to continue shooting the ball against ghost coverage, knocking down five threes in game two of the Cavaliers series. And Brown has proven that while he may be a bit slow to react accordingly, he almost always finds the right solutions. If the Knicks continue just doing what they’ve been doing, it might not matter what the Spurs do, or how they play, even if they are the best team the Knicks have played thus far.
Polaniecki: I do believe this is the best Knicks team since 1994, and maybe even since 1973. I’m not saying that just because they’ve reached the Finals either.
When you compare the level of consistency, the way they’ve sustained success, and the current run they’re on, I don’t even think the 1999 team clears them. That group was memorable, but this version feels more complete and more capable on both ends of the floor over a longer stretch. What they’ve done over this stretch feels different, not just in terms of results, but in how convincingly they’ve controlled games at times against high-level competition.
