SAN ANTONIO — The New York Knicks winning streak lives on, and they struck first in the NBA Finals.
Jalen Brunson scored 30 points, Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds and the Knicks erased a 14-point second-half deficit to beat the San Antonio Spurs 105-95 in Game 1 on Wednesday night.
OG Anunoby had 17 points for New York — which has won 12 consecutive playoff games, the seventh team in NBA history to have such a streak and the third to do it in a single season.
Brunson scored 13 points in the fourth, only six fewer than San Antonio managed as a team, and sealed it with a spinning jumper while falling to the court with 38 seconds left.
“He’s a gamer, man,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “In the biggest moments, he shows up. That’s what MVPs are supposed to do.”
And the Knicks, who finished on an 11-0 run, made a little more history. They became the first team to beat San Antonio in a Game 1 of the title series — the Spurs were 6-0 in those — and this is also the first time the Spurs have trailed in a finals before the finish.
As far as single-season playoff winning streaks, the Golden State Warriors won 15 straight in the 2017 postseason on their way to the title. The Spurs won 12 straight in 1999 on their way to the title. And now the Knicks have won 12 in a row, with their title status to be determined.
“We know what we have to do,” Brunson said. “We’re a pretty together group.”
Victor Wembanyama had 26 points and 12 rebounds for the Spurs, but he shot 6 of 21 from the field in his finals debut. Stephon Castle scored 17, while Julian Champagnie and Dylan Harper each had 16 for the Spurs.
“I was bad tonight,” Wembanyama said. “It’s not more complicated than that.”
Game 2 is Friday in San Antonio.
Former Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was at the game, as he has been for every finals game in team history, albeit watching from a suite and not stomping the San Antonio sideline. The Spurs legends — David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Bruce Bowen and more — were there too.
So were Knicks great Patrick Ewing and the world’s most recognizable New York fans: Spike Lee, Tracy Morgan, Ben Stiller, Fat Joe, Timothée Chalamet and more. Plenty of non-celeb Knicks fans made the trip as well; Tommy Sherlock, a auto sales manager from Brooklyn, said it cost less for two Game 1 tickets in San Antonio, with hotel and airfare, than Game 3 tickets in New York would have set him back.
“First-class air too,” Sherlock said. “By a lot.”
The Knicks led 14-7 early, the Spurs answered with a 20-13 run to go up by 10, the Knicks rallied and the second quarter saw six lead changes before San Antonio took a 55-48 lead into the break.
San Antonio pushed the lead to 14 midway through the third quarter before the Knicks stormed back, finishing the quarter on a 22-9 run and sending the game into the fourth tied at 76.
New York’s lead was eight midway through the fourth. Wembanyama made a pair of free throws with 2:16 left to put San Antonio up 95-94, but Brunson made a corner 3 on the next possession to put the Knicks on top for good.
“I think we let that one go,” Wembanyama said.
San Antonio’s run of never trailing in the finals had some close calls over the years. The Spurs were tied twice with the New Jersey Nets in 2003, tied with the Detroit Pistons twice in 2005, tied with the Miami Heat three times in 2013 — they lost that series in seven games, so they only trailed when it was over — and tied with the Heat once more in 2014.
It’s only 1-0. But the Knicks are three wins from their first title in 53 years, and they just took home-court advantage away from the Spurs.
“We have a long way to go,” Brunson said.
