The Knicks came into San Antonio and upended the Spurs 105-95 in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. How does San Antonio rebound in Game 2?
For the first time in 12 years, San Antonio played host to an NBA Finals game. Unfortunately for fans of the hometown Spurs, their team was stunned by the New York Knicks 105-95 in the Wednesday night opening matchup of the series.
San Antonio looked solid for most of the contest, even taking a seven-point lead into halftime in an outing where its stars were quiet early. The second half saw more production from the Spurs but the Knicks found their footing as well.
New York outscored San Antonio by 17 in the second half, including an 11-0 run to close it out when the Spurs took a narrow 95-94 lead late.
For the Spurs, it was a sucker punch in front of their home fans and showed that San Antonio has room for improvement going forward.
After a sluggish start, Western Conference Finals MVP Victor Wembanyama rounded into form. He dropped 26 points, 12 rebounds and three block in his Finals debut to lead the Spurs.
Despite the solid total, Wemby struggled to connect from the floor, going 6-of-21 and 2-of-9 from three-point range. If San Antonio is going to rally in Game 2, these numbers are going to need a boost.
Outside of Wembanyama, Julian Champagnie continued to have the hot-hand, as he tallied 16 points off a team-high five made three-pointers. Rookie phenom Dylan Harper matched Champagnie's total off the bench while becoming the youngest player in Finals history to notch double figures.
Stephon Castle chimed in for 17 points and eight rebounds. But aside from this quartet, there were not many high points for the Spurs.
Jalen Brunson was the hero for New York after taking a shot to the knee early on that originally appeared to be more devastating than it actually was. He torched San Antonio to the tune of 30 points on a 12-of-31 shooting night.
While the Spurs were able to limit the other Knicks from reaching Brunson's level scoring, they could not keep them off the glass. San Antonio narrowly won the rebounding battle 54-49 and allowed both Josh Hart and Karl-Anthony Towns to finish with double-digit boards. 10 offensive rebounds for New York also turned into 23 second-chance points.
Turnovers were another issue for the Spurs, as the team gave away 13 possessions that resulted in 19 points for New York. The biggest culprit in the takeaway woes? None other than Wembanyama with six.
Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson was candid yet optimistic in addressing the defeat.
"We played a game. We didn't get the outcome we wanted. They'll be a lot of feedback from the film and breaking this down that will lead to Game 2. Hopefully, we use that information, tools and guidance to come out and be better in that game," remarked Johnson.
There won't be a lot of time for the Spurs to get things corrected, as San Antonio hosts the Knicks once again on Friday inside Frost Bank Center at 7:30 p.m. They'll be hoping to even things up and showcase their resiliency one more time this postseason.
