The San Antonio Spurs beat the New York Knicks last night in Game 3 of the 2026 NBA Finals. That made the series 2-1 in favor of New York with Game 4 on the way tomorrow.
The Finals matchup is not the most popular topic in the Blazer’s Edge Mailbag, but we’ve gotten a couple questions and the subject is timely, so today I’ll share observations from the series so far. Hopefully this will satisfy the questions that have been asked.
One of the big things that stands out is how volatile and loopy coverage
of the series is. 24 hours ago, before the loss, everyone was saying the Knicks would sweep and that history has never allowed any team to come back from a 2-0 deficit while losing at home. When I heard that I wondered, “What uniform number does History wear?” History don’t play. The Spurs and Knicks do.
Now, with one four-point victory, the popular momentum has swung the other way. San Antonio is scary. “One more game and they have homecourt back and then it’s a series win for them!”
Neither of these narratives matter.
I don’t think people understand the playoffs really well. They’re the biggest-picture event the NBA has, and nowhere bigger than the actual Finals. But they absolutely cannot be understood from inflating perspective. Trying to draw huge conclusions from the action is like a public official saying, “This is the biggest, most beautiful piece of legislation EVER with so many big and beautiful things in it. Everybody’s going to be AMAZED at all the bigness and beauty!” There’s no detail. You kind of suspect that whomever is speaking hasn’t done their homework. They’re throwing up sparkly words to distract you from that gap in knowledge. Legislation is defined by its details, not by our adjective-filled descriptions of them.
The NBA Finals isn’t big because it’s a glitzy show or a titanic struggle between metaphysical forces. That’s not how the magnification works. In the Finals, every fine detail gains critical weight and importance: every free throw, every switch, every shot and timeout and turnover. The Finals don’t show how shiny you are. They show how gritty you are: how hard you’ve drilled the granular parts of the game, how precise your machine is as you execute, how resilient and deep and talented your players are, how incisive your adjustments.
Finals games aren’t governed by trends, opinions, or momentum. Two good teams play basketball at a high level. At any given moment, the game will go the direction of the one that it doing the little things better. Location, streaks, analysis…the game cares less about these things at this moment than it does at any other time.
That means, as unlikely as it seems, New York can actually win Games 1 and 2 on the road. And then San Antonio can defy expectations and take Game 3 at MSG.
If you’re going to ask my personal opinion, I think the series is now going to be New York in 6 or San Antonio in 7. But neither the teams nor the series will respect that one bit. For all we know, the road teams could win ALL the games. Basketball trumps expectations.
Talking about execution, New York has done well in some important areas. They’re using a veteran, physical frontcourt to introduce Victor Wembanyama to real playoffs basketball. They’re putting elbows and hips and bodies into him everywhere he goes. For a couple of games, he had very nice opening quarters then faded as the action wore along. That’s semi-intentional, part of New York’s game plan. Hit him enough and he’s going to wear down.
The Knicks have also made great use of Karl-Anthony Towns, not just as a shooter/scorer, but as a Wemby-occupier. Towns is a threat to fire or pass from anywhere. Defending him means covering multiple options and a fair amount of space on the floor. Anything that gets San Antonio’s center running around is a plus for New York.
The Knicks have also hit the Spurs in the one place they don’t want to mess with: the corner three. Wembanyama gives San Antonio a cheat code normally. Their perimeter defenders can get up tight on opposing shooters, knowing that if a mistake happens and they get blown by, Wemby is there to erase it. The one place they still have trouble closing is the coffin corner. They don’t want to extend that far and imbalance the floor. They really don’t want to pull Wembanyama over there. New York has been hitting their corner threes even when the more straight-away ones weren’t falling. That’s saved their bacon.
It’s no accident that some of these trends reversed in Game 3. Wemby had a stronger fourth period. The Knicks didn’t hit from the corner. Add in San Antonio’s ball control and lack of turnovers and you have enough for a narrow win instead of a narrow loss.
I’m still not entirely sure what will happen in Game 4. The Spurs will want to win it badly, of course. If they don’t, the road gets steep. But I don’t see either one of these teams running away from the other. Even down 3-1, San Antonio would have a chance. If the Knicks lose at home, that doesn’t say anything about the remaining 2-3 contests.
There’s no dominant team here. New York is well-constructed but limited. The Spurs are talented but young. Some combination of those characteristics will win out over the other. I think this will be remembered as one of the better Finals series because of the competition, but I don’t think either lineup will be remembered as an all-time great. That makes this the perfect year to just enjoy the basketball without trying to figure out what it all means in the big picture…a nice retreat from the showiness of the league back to its competitive roots.
What do you make of this Finals matchup so far? Share your thoughts and observations in the comments section below!
