Wembanyama sinks the Knicks at Madison Square Garden
San Antonio win their first game of the Finals, 115-111 in Game 3, as Wembanyama's 32 points cut the deficit to 1-2 and snap New York's 13-game playoff run.
- San Antonio beat New York 115-111 in Game 3 of the NBA Finals, with the series now 2-1 in the Knicks' favour.
- Victor Wembanyama poured in 32 points, adding 8 rebounds and 6 assists.
- The Spurs snapped New York's 13-game playoff winning streak and avoided going down 0-3.
- Stephon Castle chipped in 23 points as San Antonio racked up 28 assists.
Madison Square Garden rose to its feet late in the fourth quarter, but not for the home side. Wembanyama was catching the ball above the rim, finishing through traffic, then walling off the paint at the other end as though one man could defend five. The loudest building in the league slowly went quiet, because the visitors were doing everything New York never expected to see on its own floor.
San Antonio won their first game of this Finals series on Tuesday night, beating New York 115-111 to trim the deficit to 1-2. In doing so the Spurs broke two streaks at once: their own 0-2 hole and the Knicks’ run of thirteen straight playoff wins this spring. After two games in which New York looked simply too strong, San Antonio dragged the series back to life.
How did the Spurs swing the game?
The difference was that San Antonio finally played their own basketball rather than the version New York dictates. Wembanyama finished with 32 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists, and it was not a one-man show. Stephon Castle added 23 points and kept the tempo whenever the hosts tried to pull away, while the team shared all of 28 assists. The ball moved, the lane opened up, and for the first time in this series San Antonio looked like a team that knew what it was doing on the road.
Wembanyama summed up the gap between home and away floors in his own way afterwards: “At home it really feels like a six-on-five game. Here it feels like five-on-six.” It sounds like a joke, but it captures the whole point of the series. The Spurs found a way to handle a crowd that plays like New York’s sixth man.
The Knicks had their answers too. Jalen Brunson scored 32 points and drove the offence as he has all postseason, OG Anunobi added 28, but this time it was not enough. New York missed a handful of tough looks down the stretch, and every time they crept close, Wembanyama turned up in the right place.
What does this change in the series?
The biggest shift is psychological. A 0-3 hole in the NBA Finals is all but a death sentence, no team has ever come back from one. Now San Antonio sit at 1-2 with a clear path back. Game 4 is already on the schedule, again in New York, giving the Spurs a chance to level the series entirely before it returns to their own court.
Knicks coach Mike Brown did not seem overly rattled by the loss. “A seven-game series exists for a reason. They’re a great team,” he said, and he is right. New York still lead, still hold home-court advantage in the games ahead, but they saw on Tuesday that San Antonio did not come merely to fill out the bracket.
For my money, this win puts the Spurs back in the series as much as it does in the Knicks’ heads. Wembanyama is a 22-year-old who played at Madison Square Garden as though he grew up there. Game 4 comes around soon, and if San Antonio take it, this Finals takes on a very different weight. Do you think the Spurs can level it at 2-2 in New York again, or was this just a breather for the Knicks?
