NEW YORK (AP) — Sometime in these NBA Finals, the home team figures to get a victory.
If the New York Knicks do it Wednesday night, they will be on the doorstep of a championship.
The Knicks can take a 3-1
lead over the San Antonio Spurs, who hope the long arms of 7-foot-4 Victor Wembanyama already have started swinging the series in their favor.
The Spurs won Game 3 on Monday powered by Wembanyama's 32 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three blocked shots. That was the third straight victory by the road team in the series, only the second time that has happened in the NBA Finals.
The other was the series between Chicago and Phoenix in 1993. Michael Jordan eventually put a stop to that by scoring 55 points in Game 4 to lead the eventual champion Bulls to the victory on their home floor.
Time will tell if Wembanyama can reach Jordan's level, but he's now proved he can deliver just the same in big games in New York. He angered the Knicks and their fans with a shot to Jalen Brunson's head during the game. The NBA decided not to later assess Wembanyama a flagrant foul, and the 22-year-old figures to hear even louder boos as a new villain at Madison Square Garden.
“If you get hit, you hit back. That’s life. If life hits you, you need to figure out a way to get on your feet and hit it back,” teammate De'Aaron Fox said. "Every time he rolls, he gets tagged, he gets hit. If he’s trying to go set a screen, box out, whatever it may be, he’s getting grabbed, he’s getting held. It would be crazy for him to think he’s going to get open by not hitting somebody.
“But that’s basketball. It’s going to be physical. No one expects anyone to come out here and not have bumps and bruises or injuries or all these things. I don’t think it’s trying to be a villain.”
Game 5 is Saturday in San Antonio, and if the road success continues Wednesday, the series would return to New York for Game 6 on Tuesday.
The Knicks, seeking their first championship since 1973, will be trying to bounce back after the Spurs snapped their 13-game winning streak on Monday.
“The Spurs have done a great job starting in the game, dictating the pace and dictating how the game is going,” Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns said. “We have to try to be the first ones to throw the first punch.”
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