The San Antonio Spurs were comfortably in control against the New York Knicks in Game 1 of the 2026 NBA Finals. The Spurs held a 14-point second half lead by flummoxing what was a high-powered Knicks’ offense all postseason. The game started to change in the third quarter when Victor Wembanyama headed to the bench for a breather, which allowed Jalen Brunson to catch a rhythm and his teammates to find their confidence. The game was tied going into the fourth quarter, and that meant New York had the Spurs right where they wanted them.
Brunson took over down the stretch to deliver the Knicks a 105-95 Game 1 victory in San Antonio. It didn’t matter that the Spurs led for most of the night, because the Knicks have the best clutch player in the game, and he again willed them across the finish line with spectacular shot-making on a night where he had to briefly go to the locker room after injuring his knee.
The Knicks have stolen homecourt advantage. The Spurs are suddenly in a must-win situation in Game 2 before the series heads to Madison Square Garden. Here are our Game 1 overreactions after a fantastic start to the 2026 NBA Finals.
Jalen Brunson can’t be stopped in closing time
If you want to beat the Knicks, you better have a big fourth quarter lead, because if it’s close, Brunson is taking New York home. The Knicks have fantastic spacing with three knockdown shooters around their star guard, and it allows him to work one-on-one in the biggest moments. Brunson is about as small as NBA players get, he’s not particularly fast, and he hasn’t dunked the last two seasons. It doesn’t matter: he gets to his spots better than anyone in the league, and he has both the courage and the touch to consistently hit shots from a variety of angles.
Brunson has a lifetime of practice in these clutch situations. I vividly remember his high school heroics in suburban Chicago leading Stevenson to three Finals Four appearances and one state championship. He was a role player on one national championship team at Villanova as a freshman, and the driving force on another as a junior. He’s built for these moments. If the game is tight late, the Knicks know they have the ultimate closer.
The Spurs blew it by not playing Dylan Harper down the stretch
Rookie guard Dylan Harper might have been San Antonio’s best player in Game 1, but head coach Mitch Johnson pulled him out of the game with four minutes left, and he never returned. Johnson chose to close with De’Aaron Fox, Devin Vassell, and Julian Champagnie. You can quibble with who you think should have been on the bench out of that trio, but there’s no doubt that Harper should have been on the floor.
Fox just hasn’t been at his best all season, and it’s likely that he’s still playing hurt after missing games in the Western Conference Finals with an ankle injury. He was pretty bad all night in Game 1, finishing with seven points on 3-of-13 shooting from the field. Fox missed a nine-foot jumper that could have tied the game with 90 seconds left, then he bailed out the Knicks by fouling Mikal Bridges late in the shot-clock on the next possession. That swing lost the Spurs the game.
Harper was outstanding in the first half before cooling some in the second. Still, he finished with 16 points and eight rebounds on 6-of-10 shooting. It’s worth noting that Harper was -5 in his 28 minutes, while Fox was even through his 38 minutes. I just feel like Harper is the Spurs’ best backcourt shot-creator at this point, and without him creating advantages, San Antonio’s offense bogged down late.
Karl-Anthony Towns is a matchup nightmare for Victor Wembanyama
Brunson will get most of the credit for the Knicks’ Game 1 win, but Towns was every bit as important. He got it done on both ends of the floor in his marquee matchup with Victor Wembanyama, and it leaves the Spurs scrambling for answers on how to unlock their 7’5 alien for the rest of the series.
Towns is one of the best shooting big men ever, and he naturally pulls Wembanyama out of the paint when the two are matched up on each other. Towns isn’t just a jump shooter, though: his ability to put the ball on the floor and drive hard to the hole puts Wemby in difficult situations where he has to slide his feet and can’t rotate to help his teammates.
KAT also guarded Wembanyama for most of the game, and did a great job denying him deep post position. His Knicks teammates were crashing down for digs every time Wemby put the ball on the floor, but Towns was the first line of defense. In addition to continually pushing the French superstar to the perimeter, Towns also did a great job on the defensive glass. His box score numbers were solid but unspectacular with 18 points, 12 rebounds, and four assists on 7-of-15 shooting, but it’s no coincidence that he finished +14 in 34 minutes. Towns swung the game, and I’m not sure the Spurs have an answer for him.
Josh Hart is the ultimate glue guy
It’s been easy to blame Josh Hart when the Knicks have struggled over the last few seasons because he’s a shaky shooter and doesn’t have much creation ability. Still, there’s a reason New York continues to stick with him, and Hart rewarded them with a gutsy role player performance in Game 1. He only scored three points in 27 minutes on 1-of-5 shooting, but Hart still helped swing the game with his rebounding (15 boards), defense (four steals), and connective playmaking (six assists). He finished the game +22 in 27 minutes. You feel Hart’s presence whenever he’s on the floor, and his selfless nature is part of what’s elevated this Knicks team to such great heights.
Victor Wembanyama needs a post game
Wemby is probably the best player in the world at age-22, but he still has a lot of room to get better. Game 1 showed some holes in his offensive skill set on a cold shooting night when the Knicks weren’t letting him get all the way to the basket. Wembanyama just doesn’t really have a plan of attack inside the arc yet, so much so that it often feels like his best bet is just throwing the ball at the rim and trying to get his own rebound. What he really needs his a mid-range bag or a post-up game to help settle the offense in tense moments.
His shot chart from Wednesday night shows how much room he has to improve inside the arc but away from the rim. Wemby was 1-for-7 on non-rim two-pointers. That’s a hard way for any star player to live when the game slows down in the playoffs.
The Knicks’ chemistry is something special right now
The Knicks have now won 12 straight games since the Atlanta Hawks took a 2-1 series lead against them in the first round. New York has a +19.1 net-rating for the playoffs. If the Knicks finish this thing off, it’s one of the most dominant playoff runs ever.
I’m interested to see how the Knicks respond if they ever lose a game. Will they slip into the bad habits they showed earlier in the year? At this point, it feels like this team has counters for everything, and they’re playing with an incredible amount of unselfishness. That’s what championship teams are made of.
