Category: Basketball

Craig Porter Jr. hoped to take the next step forward as a consistent rotational player for the Cleveland Cavaliers this season. How close did he get?

All grades are based on our usual expectations for each player.

Regular Season Stats

• 4.5 points
• 3.4 rebounds
• 3.2 assists
• 45% FG
• 35% 3PT FG
• 60% FT

Cleveland leaned on Porter during the first half of the season when injuries decimated their roster. He quickly made himself useful as an energizer off the bench who could pass, dribble, and defend. His improvements on the defensive side of the floor were especially helpful.

Head coach Kenny Atkinson challenged Porter before the season to get into the best shape of his life. Increased stamina and endurance became the priority. Porter aced those tests, accepting the challenge and entering the season in better shape than ever.

This helped turn Porter from a liability on defense into someone who could actually make an impact. Darting into passing lanes and picking pockets are examples of this. Porter finished this season with career-highs in block and steal percentage.

Coaches love when players heed their advice. Porter was rewarded for his hard work with more minutes this season (1,148) than in his first two combined (1,162). Injuries, of course, also helped open the door for Porter to play more often.

On offense, Porter’s experience is making him a more polished playmaker. He dished 205 assists to just 59 turnovers, placing in the 97th percentile for assist-to-usage ratio. Porter also made an impact on the offensive glass, ranking fifth on the roster in offensive rebounds behind only Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, Jaylon Tyson and Nae’Qwan Tomlin.

Still, some things will always work against Porter.

He’s an undersized point guard who isn’t impactful without the ball on offense. That’s because he’s a limited shooter who doesn’t feel confident in his outside shot. He took just 1.5 three-pointers per game, ranking in the 27th percentile for three-point volume relative to his position. He won’t be able to co-exist with Donovan Mitchell or James Harden until he can reliably space the floor.

Furthermore, positional versatility is king in today’s NBA. Porter might have multiple skills, but he lacks the size to truly maximize any of them. His defense, for example, can only be so impactful when he isn’t capable of switching onto bigger opponents.

I’d rate this season as a partial success for Porter. He should be proud of improving physically and taking a step forward on defense. He’ll need to continue working on his jumper, but he can find solace in knowing that his mechanics are not totally broken. He’s got a fine enough shot to believe that marginal improvements are possible for him.

Moving up from his current place in the rotation will be a challenge. But there are worse things than being a third-string guard in the NBA.

Grade: B+

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Now the NBA Finals get interesting. Assuredly, the New York Knicks will respond with vigor after their first loss since April, but the San Antonio Spurs have their own adjustments to make.

My Spurs vs. Knicks props and these NBA picks lean into a few playing-time adjustments for Game 4 on Wednesday, June 9.

Best Spurs vs Knicks props for Game 4

Player	Pick
Dylan Harper	Over 3.5 assists	+120
Karl-Anthony Towns	Over 1.5 3-pointers	+160
Mikal Bridges	Over 12.5 points	+100

Game 4 Prop #1: Dylan Harper Over 3.5 assists

This may sound bold, but the San Antonio Spurs need to play rookie Dylan Harper more and star guard Stephon Castle and/or veteran De’Aaron Fox a little bit less. Play Castle and Fox plenty still, but Harper has been the best ballhandler for the Spurs in this series, while Castle and Fox have been loose with the ball and at times played with less of a plan and more pure aggression.

Harper has remained in control and is very much a mismatch for even the New York Knicks.

He dished out four assists in Game 3 despite lagging in minutes behind those two, nearly five minutes behind Fox and six behind Castle. More time watching the film should lead the San Antonio coaching staff to the same conclusion. Putting the ball in Harper’s hands more often will only help the Spurs.

Game 4 Prop #2: Karl-Anthony Towns Over 1.5 3-pointers

Expect the Knicks coaching staff to lay into Karl-Anthony Towns a bit after Game 3. Not in a way of tearing him down, but in a way of encouraging him to be more liberal with his shots.

Towns simply cannot go the first three quarters without taking a 3-pointer like he did in Game 3. While his drives helped dictate the first two games of this series, it is his shooting that turns Towns from a strong offensive piece to a walking mismatch.

And yet, he took only six total shots in the first three quarters on Monday, and none of them were 3-pointers.

Towns has hit 46.3% of his threes this postseason. At the risk of overcorrecting from his reluctance on Monday, New York should encourage him to heave at least once per quarter in Game 4.

Game 4 Prop #3: Mikal Bridges Over 12.5 points

Of New York’s six players to see at least 15 minutes of action in Game 3, only two had positive integers in the plus/minus column of the box score: Towns (+11 in 38 minutes) and Mikal Bridges (+6). Yet, of the Knicks’ starters, only Bridges played fewer than 35 minutes, falling short of 29 minutes.

It was only one game, but it seems worth noting that Landry Shamet played 23 minutes off the bench and posted the worst plus/minus of those six players, logging an ugly -20.

Not to be too blunt, but hey Mike Brown, perhaps play Bridges more.

His 1-of-5 shooting was ugly and, frankly, not aggressive enough. That needs to be the adjustment included within this adjustment. But a look at Monday’s tape makes it clear: Mikal Bridges helps the Knicks win.

After all, he cleared this prop in five of his previous six games and in nine of New York’s 13 straight wins.

This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here and view our best betting sites or check out our top sportsbook promos.

They always say the series doesn’t start until a road team wins an away game on their opponent’s home court. Redundantly speaking, that thought process means this series started in Game 1 when the New York Knicks took the victory. After the “desperate” San Antonio Spurs won Game 3 at Madison Square Garden, one could argue that this series began a new start. The Spurs are still down 1-2 to a tough-as-nails Knicks team and will look to knot the series even on Wednesday night.

“I think everybody was feeling good. I didn’t want us to get too happy about one win… I think since the end of Game 2 we’ve still been confident that we’re gonna win this series. That’s what we plan to do.”

There’s a fine line between confidence and cockiness, but Stephon Castle encapsulated his team’s feelings after Game 3 and ahead of an always crucial Game 4. The series thus far has been each team trading haymakers, uppercuts, jabs, and body blows all figuratively and literally as fans on both sides reasonably argue that the match-up has been physical. As a result, each game has been fairly low-scoring for each teams’ standards. The combination of intensive and aggressive defense with the high variance of three-point shooting percentages of each team contributed to the slug fest so far even as the pace is still light years ahead of from the last time both of these two teams met in the Finals.

Defensively, the Spurs will continue to attempt to corral Knicks stars Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns while also hoping to limit the offensive success of OG Anunoby and Josh Hart. When Mikal Bridges and the Knicks’ bench finds a rhythm scoring, the Spurs had trouble keeping up so Game 4 will also be important that the Silver and Black continue to find bench scoring from Dylan Harper and Keldon Johnson. While Sixth Man of the Year Keldon Johnson has had trouble finding an offensive role off the bench this series, the mild success he had in Game 3 can be a building block to ensure the Spurs get enough from the second unit to match the Knicks’ depth.

Offensively, while everyone from pundits to fans to the peanut gallery of Twitter has their two cents about how Victor Wembanyama should operate (low post or beyond the arc), the Spurs will welcome Game 3 Victor who was aggressive early and often down low while sprinkling an appropriate amount of threes when the shot was available to him. Nothing else needs to be said about Stephon Castle who is fast making himself a household name for casual fans and the national audience. Castle continues to be the aggressive engine that makes sure the Spurs stay that way on both offense and defense. Foul trouble continues to follow him, but it correlates to his style of play.

The team says the job is no where near done after notching only one game against their Eastern Conference foes so expect the Spurs to come out and ensure that they return home to San Antonio with a tied series.

San Antonio Spurs(1-2) vs. New York Knicks (2-1)

June 10th, 2026 | 7:30 PM CT

Watch: ABC / ESPN | Listen: WOAI (1200 AM)

Spurs Injuries: David Jones Garcia: OUT

Knicks Injuries: Mitchell Robinson: Probable

What to watch for:

Referee Mogging and Looksmaxxing

Free throw discrepancies are common fodder for next-day discussions on both sides of the fandom. In this case, the Knicks plead their case that the Spurs benefited from the zebras’ whistle in Game 3. Of course the Spurs won’t be focused on what the officials might or might not do, but they’ll adjust accordingly if whistles might be stifled or used more in Game 4. Their free throw percentage hovers around 80%, which is all they can ask for when taking advantage of the charity stripe.

De’Aaron Fox Aura Farming

De’Aaron Fox’s game-to-game stats swing as wild as Spurs and Knicks fans celebrations and outbursts after wins and losses. You never know what you’re going to get, but you know something is going down. While Fox shot 67% in Game 2’s loss, he was 29% from the field in Game 3’s win. The Spurs will certainly look to get him on the right side of the shooting percentage to bolster their offense behind Wembanyama’s orbit and Castle’s drives.

Clock that tea: Elmo still hopes both teams have fun

Experts and fans can cherry pick any number of stats and percentages that say the winner of [insert applicable game here] goes on to win the series [insert percentage] of the time. For the Spurs, they will solely be focused on stealing another win in New York to even the series at 2-2. Rain or shine, long security lines or not, Game 4 will see both teams come out with the same intense urgency seen throughout a competitive series that has lived up to the already high expectations.

A rowdy mob pummeled a San Antonio Spurs fan and snatched his jersey in a viral caught-on-camera beatdown amid the mayhem that broke out in Midtown after Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

The 39-year-old Spurs fan was walking back to his hotel just after midnight on Tuesday when the large crew descended upon him outside 306 West 47th Street, according to the NYPD.

Video posted on social media showed a man in a Spurs jersey walking down the street and attempting to run as the angry mob surrounded him.

He was punched, kicked, and had his No. 21 Tim Duncan jersey torn off his back in the melee — as hordes of Knicks fanatics swarmed Midtown, some wreaking havoc, after Monday night’s squeaker loss in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

The Spurs fan appeared to try to fight back, but was forced to the ground and kicked repeatedly before trying to escape down a street as antagonizers chased at his heels, according to social media footage.

While running away, a member of the mob was seen kicking him to the ground, clips showed.

He suffered cuts to his face and bruising and was taken to Mount Sinai West Hospital in stable condition, cops said.

The NYPD released pictures of six separate people wanted in connection with the violent robbery.

Though none of the wanted individuals appeared to be pictured in Knicks merch, many fans clad in blue and orange were seen in the massive crowd closing in on the Spurs fan.

Some New Yorkers and Knicks faithful blasted the hooligans for the violence in subsequent videos shared online.

Police arrested 21 people overnight for offenses including assault on a police officer, assault, criminal possession of a weapon, menacing, resisting arrest, and obstructing governmental administration after trying to control the thousands of people gathered outside a Bryant Park Knicks watch party.

In a separate assault, dozens of enraged Knicks fans surrounded a Spurs fan on the streets and tore apart his Victor Wembanyama jersey.

Five NYPD officers were injured in the fracas, with some ruffians chucking glass objects at each other and police officers, and ripping bus signs and trees out of the ground to throw them.

Rowdy fans also climbed scaffolding, light poles, police cars, and NYPD trucks, causing “significant damage,” police said.

An investigation into the incident remains ongoing.

On the most recent Bill Simmons podcast, Simmons talked with J Kyle Mann about the upcoming NBA draft. You can listen to the entire podcast here (the draft talk takes place in the second half):

Simmons talked a lot about who he thinks the Utah Jazz might draft, and he thinks it could be Cam Boozer. Simmons seems very worried about all the issues that Peterson had at Kansas. The most interesting element occurs near the end, when Simmons asks Mann how he thinks everything will pan out. Mann says that he thinks Dybantsa goes #1 and that Peterson goes #2, and then Mann adds. “I think the Jazz take Peterson, I’ve heard they like Peterson, I’ve heard Danny likes Peterson.”

We’ve heard this draft order from multiple sources, so it’s not entirely surprising, but it does confirm what many reports have said. June 23rd is right around the corner, and it’s going to be exciting to see what is going to happen.

On the Sean O’Connell Show, Krysten Peek joined the show to talk about all things NBA Draft, and she brought some incredible insight and intel. If you haven’t listened, make sure you do here:

If you don’t have a chance to listen, here are the different insights she brought:

• Wouldn’t surprise her if AJ Dybantsa goes #1 and Darryn Peterson goes #2
• Darryn Peterson is going in this week, if not already, to work out with the Utah Jazz
• She says it’s like an 85-90% chance that AJ Dybantsa goes #1
• The fact that nothing has been leaked from all 30 teams who have Darryn Peterson’s medicals points to him being A-okay, him being fine.
• She’s a big Darryn Peterson believer, and what she knows personally about him as someone who loves basketball. If he’s not the #1 pick, he is the clear-cut pick for the Jazz at #2. He fits well with Keyonte George. Both are ultra competitors.
• The Jazz brass have done an incredible job of improving players’ perception of the Utah Jazz and the city. They have brought in a lot of players to help with that and to build relationships for future opportunities to bring them on.

The number is somewhat stunning, considering how well Karl-Anthony Towns has performed up until recently in the NBA Finals.

He has logged 30 minutes across the fourth quarter of the three games of the series, and the Knicks center hasn’t scored a point.

Not a single field goal or free throw. He has only taken six shots and tallied one assist.

“It’s extremely important that he’s getting touches, that he’s involved, not just in the fourth quarter, but obviously throughout the ballgame,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said Tuesday. “I got to continue trying to do a better job of getting him involved throughout the course of the game, as well as late.”

Lately, Towns hasn’t been involved much, taking just 11 shots over the past five quarters. In that span, the Knicks have been outscored by 12 points.

When asked about his fourth-quarter donuts, Towns mostly sidestepped the question.

“We have a game plan, and we want to execute it,” he said. “So just trying to execute our game plan, especially when we get in the fourth, is vital, and just doing what I can to execute it at the highest level.”

Towns’ emergence has been a major storyline of the postseason for the Knicks, ever since Brown tweaked the offense to run more through Towns midway through the first round against the Hawks. The Knicks are 12-1 in the playoffs when Towns has four or more assists.

In Game 3, he had only one assist. An involved Towns typically means a productive Knicks offense. Their attack was not at its best in that loss, too stagnant and overreliant on isolation. They shot 36 percent from the field in the second half and notched a playoff-low 18 assists.

On Monday, the Spurs went away from using Victor Wembanyama on Towns and guarded him with smaller defenders. It worked for them. Now the Knicks have to adjust.

“Execute our game plan and get back to what’s made us special — that ball movement and getting the ball zipping around the court, and allowing it to judge who shoots the ball,” Towns said. “So I think we have to get back to the details and our fundamentals that made us special in the 13-game winning streak.”

Victor Wembanyama left Stephon Castle out to dry, giving him the ball with less than a second left on the shot clock, forcing him to quickly fire a 25-footer from the wing. The buzzer screamed and thousands groaned as the game-changing 3-pointer fell with less than two minutes left. 

When the 21-year-old next looked at the rim, he was standing at the free-throw line with 6.8 seconds left, sinking the clinching shots of the 115-111 win in Game 3 of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden.

“He might be the most mature player on our team,” Wembanyama said. “He’s shown over and over again he’s capable and that we are right to put our trust in him.”

Castle inflicted even more damage before his late-game heroics. 

The second-year standout from UConn — who won the national championship in his only season with the Huskies — punished the Knicks perimeter defenders from the tip by attacking the paint at will, finishing strong at the rim and sending Knicks defenders scrambling in rotations.

Castle scored 18 of his 25 points in the first half — combining with Wembanyama to become the first pair of teammates who are 22 or younger to each score at least 20 points in an NBA Finals game — and also finished with five rebounds, five assists, one block and one steal in 38 minutes.

Dylan Harper, 20, set the tone in San Antonio, barely a year removed from Rutgers, now repeatedly bullying his way into the lane to put up 14.6 points and 7.3 rebounds per game in the NBA Finals.

“For the most part, we kind of dictate where we want to go on the court,” Castle said Tuesday at Madison Square Garden. “I think that’s a skill that me and [Harper] both have, and it’s very useful. We’ve just got to keep continuing to use it.

“I don’t think we’ve let the defense force us to do anything all year.”

In Game 4, the Knicks need to try to make the unproven shooters beat them from deep, taking away the young guards’ confidence-building drives.

Castle has shot 5-for-14 on 3-pointers in the series but is a career 30.5 percent shooter from the perimeter. Harper is shooting 60 percent on 2-pointers in the series but is just 2-for-15 on 3-pointers in the NBA Finals, including two wide-open misses in the final 70 seconds of Game 3. 

“I feel like every night is not going to be your night,” said Harper, who had made 30.5 percent of 3-pointers in the playoffs. “[In Game 3], I couldn’t make a shot. That’s just the reality of the game. I’m going to keep on shooting them because [of] the confidence I have in myself, the confidence the team has in me.

“I can’t really hang my head too much because we’ve got a lot more basketball to be played.”

Josh Hart has been in their shoes. Throughout this playoff run, the veteran has been left alone on the outside and dared to make the opponent pay for it.

Hart wouldn’t reveal whether the Knicks would employ a similar strategy against the Spurs’ young guards, but part of the game plan is no secret.

“I’m sure we’re going to change some things and switch up some schemes to protect the paint,” Hart said. “Obviously, those guys are very dynamic when they touch the paint.”

The NBA admitted Tuesday it missed a foul call on Victor Wembanyama’s first-quarter shove of Jalen Brunson during Game 3 of the NBA Finals. And they are not going to do anything about it.

The league reviewed the play after San Antonio’s 115-111 win at Madison Square Garden and will not upgrade it to a flagrant foul, a person with knowledge of the decision confirmed to USA TODAY Sports' Lorenzo Reyes. This despite NBA head of officiating Monty McCutchen going on ESPN to acknowledge that the officials got it wrong.

Wembanyama shoved Brunson hard with both hands as Brunson tried to set a screen. Brunson didn’t fall all the way to the floor but he had to brace himself from the push, which drew an immediate reaction from the MSG crowd. Brunson got up and got in Wembanyama’s face before the game moved on.

No foul was called. No review was triggered at the time.

Brunson frustrated at Wemby 😳 pic.twitter.com/0xd2HO78NV

— ESPN (@espn) June 9, 2026

McCutchen addressed the missed call on ESPN’s "NBA Today."

“Well most certainly, I think we can all agree that a foul was missed on that play. We have a big part of our job is to, on-ball, off-ball exchanges between referees. We did a poor job of that here where we got two people on-ball and we don’t see the screening action. Lots of fighting over screens throughout the game and if we break down in our fundamentals, in even the smallest amounts, we have the opportunity to miss a clear foul, as we missed here.”

Replays appeared to show Brunson grabbing Wembanyama’s jersey before the shove, which may have factored into the league’s decision not to escalate. Still, Wembanyama’s reaction was to aggressively shove Brunson in the upper back and neck area, sending him toward the floor.

It’s been pretty blatant.

The Spurs, after Jalen Brunson’s huge fourth quarter carried the Knicks to their Game 1 victory, have made a clear effort the past two games to be as physical with Brunson as possible and rough him up. It seemed to cross the line a few times, though no flagrants were given. 

Most notably, Victor Wembanyama shoved Brunson to the ground by the back of his head as Brunson was trying to set a screen on him in the first quarter of the Knicks’ 115-111 Game 3 loss to the Spurs on Monday night at Madison Square Garden. Brunson got up and jawed at Wembanyama while the play was still ongoing, but not even a common foul was called. 

Other times in the first half, Stephon Castle and Carter Bryant lined Brunson up and trucked him while pretending to go for rebounds. Those were both called common fouls, but neither was upgraded to a flagrant.

At the end of Game 2, De’Aaron Fox pushed Brunson, got in his face and sparked a brief scrum. 

“I think that’s not basketball,” Jose Alvarado said Tuesday of Wemby’s shove. “That’s something that they gotta look at. But he got away with one. That’ll be the last one.”

While Alvarado’s sentiment is nice, it’s not exactly a shock that the feisty and brash backup from Brooklyn was ready to talk tough.

It would not be wise for the hardly 6-foot Alvarado to try to fight the 7-foot-4 Wemby. 

And the Knicks don’t need to start fighting. What would be more impactful is if they help Brunson fight through all that physicality. 

Brunson has shot just 37.0 percent from the field and 31.8 percent from deep along with 13 turnovers across the three games of the Finals. The Spurs have succeeded — where every other team this postseason has failed — in preventing Brunson from being at his best. 

The Spurs are picking up Brunson the full length of the court, causing the Knicks to get into their sets much slower than they’d want. They are holding, pulling and bumping Brunson off the ball to make it harder for him to get open. When he has the ball in his hands, they are getting right up into him and daring the refs to make a call.

It all led to the Knicks offense growing stagnant Monday — a problem that had disappeared since Games 2 and 3 of the first round against the Hawks. 

“We just wanted to stand and watch one guy dribble a ton,” Brown said after the game. “And then when the ball got passed, there were no quick decisions by the guy receiving the basketball.”

Brunson’s usage rate was at 38.4 percent Monday, up from his mark of 31.3 percent for the entire postseason. Across the three games of the series, he’s taken 44 shots after touching the ball for six or more seconds — the next closest in the Finals is Fox at 13 shots. 

On Monday, it felt like Brunson was trying to force his way through all that physicality rather than allowing his looks to come more organically. It’s hard to remember the last time he had as much of a reaction as he did to Wemby’s shove. 

What only made it worse was a lack of help from his teammates — Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges, after their terrific first two games of the series, were nonfactors. They shied away in crunch time, and the Knicks offense as a whole was content to watch Brunson try to play hero ball.

The Spurs were able to double and blitz Brunson without others making them pay for it, like they did the first two games.

The slow decisions and lack of movement by Brunson’s teammates allowed his defenders to recover after pressuring him. And their screens have not been effective at taking Brunson’s defenders out of the play. 

“There’s a way for us to do things we have to do, the things that we’ve done throughout these playoffs,” Brunson said. “They’re just game plan discipline. I don’t think the discipline we had in those situations was good enough. We just got to be disciplined in those moments.”

The 13-game winning streak showed just how dynamic the offense can be when there is an emphasis on ball movement, spacing and quick decisions. 

The Knicks got away from that Monday.

“We have to play to what our concepts or play to what our strengths are,” Brown said. “It’s been pace, it’s been space, it’s been getting the ball reversed, it’s been touching the paint, and more importantly it’s been making quick decisions. There were a lot of times where the decisions weren’t made quick last night. One guy caught, held, held, held, held, held. Now the defense settles in. Now you’re in trouble.”

Trouble for the first time in 45 days.

The NBA is letting them play — at least with Victor Wembanyama in this one instance.

The Spurs star will not receive a flagrant foul upgrade for pushing Knicks star Jalen Brunson in the first quarter of NBA Finals Game 3, The Post’s Stefan Bondy reported.

Wembanyama will stay at two flagrant points, which he received for a flagrant 2 penalty after throwing an elbow at the Timberwolves’ Naz Reid earlier in the playoffs. If Wembanyama had — or does — earn two more flagrant points, he would be suspended for one game.

The Spurs big man, with a little less than five minutes left in the first quarter of San Antonio’s 115-111 win over the Knicks, shoved Brunson in the head from behind, sending the New York guard to the Madison Square Garden floor.

Immediately, former NBA star and ESPN/ABC analyst Richard Jefferson called for Wembanyama to be called for a flagrant 1. No foul was called on the play.

NBA senior vice president of referee development and training Monty McCutchen said on “NBA Today” earlier on Thursday that while the league missed a foul on the play, it would need something “clear and conclusive” to upgrade the play to a flagrant 1 or 2.

“I think we can all agree that a foul was missed on that play. A big part of our job is on-ball, off-ball exchanges between referees. We did a poor job of that here, where we got two people on-ball, and we don’t see the screening action,” McCutchen said.

“If we break down in our fundamentals, in even the smallest amounts, we have the opportunity to miss a clear foul, as we missed here.”

The shove has drawn sharp criticism from a number of former NBA players, including ex-Knick Stephon Marbury, who labeled the play “dirty.”

Even Mayor Zohran Mamdani chimed in, saying the play should have been a flagrant.

Wembanyama and Brunson will be back on the Garden court for Game 4 on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m.

The NBA has ruled that Spurs star Victor Wembanyama will not be assessed a flagrant foul for his actions in Monday's Game 3 win over the Knicks.

The league determined that Wembanyama's shove of Knicks guard Jalen Brunsondid not meet their criteria for the center to be assessed a flagrant foul retroactively. 

No foul is called as Victor Wembanyama shoves Jalen Brunson pic.twitter.com/awN400ir13

— SNY Knicks (@sny_knicks) June 9, 2026

Wembanyama and the Spurs dodged what could have been a series-shifting moment. If the Spurs center were assessed a flagrant-1 foul, he would be one flagrant foul away from a mandatory one-game suspension in the NBA Finals after he was given a flagrant-2 foul after he threw an elbow on the Timberwolves' Naz Reid in the second round of the playoffs.

The NBA's ruling is not unexpected, and eyes will be on Game 4 to see how tightly the game will be officiated after Knicks head coach Mike Brown criticized the officiating after Game 3 and guard Jose Alvarado sent a warning to Wembanyama and the Spurs, saying "that'll be the last one." 

Game 4 will emanate from MSG on Wednesday before the series shifts to San Antonio for Game 5 in San Antonio. 

The Knicks may have overlooked the Spurs after becoming the third road team in NBA Finals history to take the first two games of the series.

At least, that’s what Karl-Anthony suggested was one issue in their Game 3 defeat.

“The details that made us special, we were too relaxed in them, and we didn’t execute them at the level that you guys are used to seeing,” Towns said Tuesday. “So doing that and also just the fundamentals of what our team is and how we play, we didn’t do that for 48 minutes. It’s something that has got us that 13-game winning streak.

“Playing around with the game against a great team, you’re asking for a disaster, and that’s what we got.”

The Knicks had talked plenty after Game 2 of playing with desperation with a 2-0 series lead and treating the Finals like the series was 0-0. They had done a remarkable job of handling success and avoiding complacency throughout the franchise record playoff win streak.

But they lacked that sense of urgency in the first Finals game at MSG in 27 years.

They started each half poorly. The Spurs scored the game’s first seven points and led by double figures after just 4:26. The Knicks recovered to build a seven-point lead at halftime, only to see San Antonio start the third quarter just like the first stanza, ripping off a 15-4 burst.

“I just saw us not executing the little details that made us special,” Towns said. “The game they brought to MSG yesterday, we didn’t meet their level.”

It manifested itself in the Knicks allowing a playoff-high 115 points and producing a playoff-low 18 assists.

They also committed 13 turnovers, many of them unforced, leading to 21 Spurs points.

Team captain Jalen Brunson echoed Towns that the Knicks were lacking when it came to minor things. One of them was sending the Spurs to the free-throw line 32 times.

While coach Mike Brown was critical of the officiating — the Knicks attempted 10 fewer free throws than the Spurs — Brunson didn’t use that as an excuse Tuesday.

“There’s a way for us to do things we have to do, the things that we’ve done throughout these playoffs,” he said. “They’re just game plan discipline. I don’t think the discipline we had in those situations were good enough. We just got to be disciplined in those moments.”

Legendary basketball coach Rick Pitino has some thoughts on the officiating in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

Pitino appeared on The Post’s “Schein Time” on Tuesday, the morning after attending Game 3, which the Knicks dropped to the Spurs 115-111.

“It was unreal,” Pitino said of the fans at MSG Monday night. “The fans were up. I’d say I was on my feet for 90% of the game, and that’s the type of magic it was.”

On a less positive note, there’s been some controversy surrounding the officiating.

Postgame, Knicks head coach Mike Brown commented on the free throw disparity, as the Spurs took three times as many free throws as the Knicks did in the second half.

Pitino sees the complaints and understands them.

“Look, there were a couple of plays where I was like, OK, that’s the wrong call. And I’m a die-hard Knicks fan. … I credit San Antonio. I didn’t think the Knicks played their game.

“I got the sense watching it live that Mike Brown wanted to either shift the conversation or kind of go Phil Jackson on everyone and let the officials know for next game, hey, we want some calls at home.”

Pitino also credited the Spurs’ physicality for helping them escape with a close win in Game 3, especially in a raucous environment like that of MSG, which was hosting its first Finals game since 1999.

“I think San Antonio last night knew what to do to win that game from a coaching standpoint, strategy standpoint, that was extremely physical…It was a game like it was when I was coaching the Knicks. It was back then they allowed physicality.”

The Knicks look to win their first NBA Finals game on their home floor in 25 years tomorrow, with tipoff at 8:30 pm.

Jeremy Lin knows better than anyone how it feels to excite New York.

Before Jalen Brunson carried the Knicks within two games of winning the franchise’s first championship since 1973, Lin imbued a flailing organization with the most joy it had experienced since its playoff runs in the 1990s.

Lin went from being an undrafted, Harvard walk-on to becoming a global superstar after carrying the Knicks on a seven-game winning streak while averaging 22 points during the 2011-12 season. He brought Spike Lee back to Madison Square Garden. He inspired ticket prices to soar. He famously scored 38 points on Kobe Bryant after the Lakers superstar asked, “Who is this kid?”

Lin returned to ground zero of the career-defining yet short-lived “Linsanity” phenomenon Monday for Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the Knicks and Spurs.

Lin will forever be celebrated by New Yorkers, who cheered wildly when his face was shown on the jumbotron.

He arrived at MSG clad in Knicks gear, representing a franchise that will forever hold a piece of his heart even though he left after his lone season with the organization after it declined to match a three-year, $25 million offer from the Rockets in the summer of 2012.

Lin brought beleaguered New Yorkers happiness and he’s thrilled they’re experiencing it once again. Many are even calling this the greatest Knicks team of all time.

As for whether Lin agrees?

“I don’t think I know enough about the history of the older teams to fully know,” Lin told The California Post. “But forget the Knicks, this is one of the most dominant runs we’ve seen in NBA history.”

Before falling to the Spurs 115-111 on Monday, the Knicks had won 13 postseason games in a row, the second-longest winning streak in NBA playoff history.

The biggest reason for that? Brunson.

Lin praised Brunson for igniting the Knicks’ fanbase, saying the man known as “The King of New York” is finally showing the world what New Yorkers have known all along.

“He is starting to get [the attention] now and definitely deserves it,” Lin told The California Post. “I don’t think enough people are talking about him giving up $113 million to build a team full of players that want to win. I think that speaks volumes. That’s also historic. It’s not talked about enough. Now he’s starting to get some of the recognition he deserves as a player, but he’s the consummate teammate and professional.”

Lin went on to praise Karl-Anthony Towns, who this postseason has shed the “soft” narrative that plagued him throughout his career.

Towns has been dominant on both ends of the court against the Spurs, often getting the better of Victor Wembanyama, who’s considered the next face of the league.

“It’s huge because, one, he’s rising to the occasion,” Lin said. “Two, he’s doing it on the defensive end as well. Three, he has turned up his playmaking abilities. We’re seeing three different areas of KAT that had certain narratives already written about him, so credit to him. And from all of his interviews, he seems so centered, so grateful. It has been great to see.”

The Knicks, who have a 2-1 series lead over the Spurs and will host Game 4 on Wednesday, are so close to ending 53 years of suffering for their fanbase.

But New Yorkers shouldn’t celebrate yet.

If the Knicks allow the Spurs to become the first team in NBA history to win a Finals series after losing their first two games at home, this iteration of the blue and orange would go from being the city’s savior to its greatest flop.

Things are still precarious for the Knicks.

As Lin knows all too well, in this city things can change in the blink of an eye.

“Obviously, it’s not over until they finish the job,” Lin told The California Post. “If they don’t finish the job then that will forever be a knock. Until this point, [their run] is about as dominant as it gets.”