For Game Three of the NBA Finals, a graphic of the Larry O’Brien Trophy was laid under the Knicks logo at halfcourt. This marks the very first time the image of the trophy has ever been placed there. Others have said it, but allow me to reiterate: seeing the iconic trophy on the court at MSG is weird.
No basketball stage is bigger than Madison Square Garden. Whenever a big game is played at the Mecca, visitors are expected to wilt under Broadway’s lights. It never occurs to us that the home team might feel a little of that heat, too.
Indeed, the Knicks seemed more affected by the pressure in their 115-111 loss. It was a flukey game across the board. For instance, they lost the third quarter for the first time in 17 playoff games. Given that the starters were out of sync all game, it made sense. In fact, this was the first they’ve looked like the “old Knicks” since the first round. The lead guys started slow, the reserves provided a second quarter lift while Towns and Brunson were split up, the play went stale again after halftime, and they hoped for Captain Clutch magic in the fourth. It was as if, after being away from the Garden for 19 days, they’d forgotten what a juggernaut they had become and, returning to their home court, reverted to their bad habits.
Out of the gate, the hosts coughed up two turnovers and fell behind by seven before Josh Hart finally got them on the scoreboard. That kicked off a promising stretch by Hart. The Spurs picked their poison and gave plenty of space to Hart on the perimeter. His two triples in the first quarter kept the Knicks from falling too far behind. Our Energizer Bunny finished with 16 points on 4-of-7 from deep, plus nine boards and five dimes.
The Spurs made eight of their first ten shots to go ahead by 11, but that’s a hard pace to maintain. Meanwhile, Mikal Bridges picked up two quick fouls and was replaced by Landry Shamet (3 PTS, 1-of-8 FG, -20, 23 MIN). It was the start of a long night for Bridges, who had his first offensive dud in a while. He posted two points on 1-of-5 shooting.
In the game thread, UrsaMajor13 said, “Bridges and KAT really disappointing.” Since they had combined for 14 points on 5-of-15 shooting and eight fouls, Ursa almost won a spot in the headline. Weirdly, the plus-minus tells a different story. Would you believe that Karl-Anthony Towns finished +8 and Bridges +11? That box score is lying—and Soylent Green is people!
The Spurs’ star, Victor Wembanyama, recorded 32 points on 11-of-18 from the field; the Knicks’ star, Jalen Brunson, also scored 32 points, shooting 11-of-25.
Both of these things can be true: San Antonio did an admirable job of keeping KAT out of the offense and the Knicks did a lousy job of incorporating KAT into the offense. Brunson shot 15 more times than Towns. They could have at least split the difference. If the Knicks plan to close this out and float a parade through Manhattan, they’d better start running plays for Karl again.
Tempers were spicy tonight. On one sequence, Wembanyama palmed the back of Brunson’s head and shoved him to the floor. No whistle. On another, after a Knicks make, Hart was laid flat under the rim when Luke Kornet body-bumped him. Hart jumped up to shove Kornet and got a tech. Nothing for the Spur. The refs sure seemed intent on stretching this series past four games, but maybe your broadcast showed different camera angles. Both sides played aggressive, physical basketball yet when the curtain fell, the Spurs had shot 32 freebies to the Knicks’ 22.
Mike Brown thought it was fishy.
After the first quarter, New York trailed 33-22. San Antonio once again executed better than the Knicks at the start of a game. The Spurs had assisted on 11 of 14 field goals, while the Knicks had been outshot 25% to 57% from downtown and coughed up the rock four times. Once again, both teams crashed the defensive boards. Of the 22 first-quarter rebounds, just two were offensive.
Fun fact: The broadcast reported that Mitchell Robinson’s 37% career playoff free-throw percentage is the lowest in NBA history. Robinson made 1-of-2 tonight—and played just seven minutes. Why? His -11 plus-minus points to an answer.
In the second quarter, San Antonio’s shooting cooled, and the Knicks reserves turned up the heat. Jose Alvarado gave Brunson a breather and capitalized on the opportunity. His jumper over Wembanyama was a first-half highlight. That was part of a 16-7 Knicks run that cut their deficit to two.
Not to toot my own horn, but in my preview, I said it was Jordan Clarkson’s turn to have a game. He did his best to make it so, hitting a timely three and picking De’Aaron Fox’s pocket on an inbound—before passing the ball past Hart and to Stephon Castle, who scored with an and-one. Clarkson finished with 10 points in 13 minutes, making 4-of-7 from deep. From the cheap seats (a recliner in Binghamton, NY), certain fans wondered why Coach Mike Brown chose not to sub Clarkson for Bridges once he knew that Mikal was mentally on Mars.
Meanwhile, OG Anunoby was ferocious on both ends. He netted a triple and then stuffed Dylan Harper at the rim. With the Knicks rallying, a Brunson trey gave them a brief lead with four minutes to go—before Wembanyama scored five points to restore the guests’ advantage. It was the tale of the game. So many times, the Knicks were poised to take over and just fell flat.
Thanks to a Castle loose-ball foul on Brunson, a Towns steal, and an Anunoby slam, New York tied the game with two minutes remaining in the second. Hart (who’s been studly everywhere except the points column in this series) swished his third three-pointer, Brunson added another, and Towns made two free throws to give the good guys a 64-57 halftime lead.
Through the half, the Knicks shot better from the field (58% to 53%), better from three (47% to 40%), won the rebounding battle (18-14), and matched San Antonio in the paint (28-28). What kept the Spurs afloat was ball movement and game control. San Antonio had assisted on 17 of 23 baskets while New York managed just 11 assists on 22 makes. At intermission, Castle led all scorers with 18 and Anunoby was a close second with 17.
Early in the second half, Julian Champagnie went up for a three and kicked out his foot at Brunson, who was closing out. Brunson had turned away from the shooter, and contact was initiated because Champagnie nearly popped a hip reaching his leg out. The officiating crew deemed it a flagrant foul on Brunson. Go figure. (Champagnie logged 12 points on 3-of-7 from deep.)
That call helped the guests mount a 10-4 run. Around the midway through the third, the Spurs tied the game at 76, and then Wembanyama stroked one from deep to regain the lead. With both teams fighting through it, the Knicks were down by three. Thanks to a Hail Mary from Clarkson, New York entered the final frame trailing 92-91.
While Brunson rested, the Spurs’ defense continued to disrupt the Knicks’ shooting and kept them scoreless for the first three-ish minutes. That increased the deficit to seven. Brunson returned to try to get things going, but even he was short on answers. New York would shoot 7-of-27 in the fourth quarter. Yuck.
At the other end, Wembanyama drained a three as Robinson crashed into him for a foul. Except, on replay, it was clear that Keldon Johnson shoved Robinson into Wembanyama. Brown challenged the call and, correctly, it was overturned. Instead of being down by 10, New York regained possession, and Brunson promptly drove the lane to make the deficit five.
Anunoby scored on a soft-touch jumper, then blocked Harper at the rim on a breakaway that led to a Brunson bucket. Buckets were hard to come by, with each team ratcheting up its defense. The clubs had combined to miss their first 16 shots from deep in the fourth period. And although the players in the frontcourt hung onto each other all game long, the refs waited until the final frame to start calling fouls. Wembanyama had shot six freebies in just over seven minutes of fourth-quarter play.
With four minutes to go, the Knicks trailed by eight and were gifted a missed finger roll by Wembanyama. Two free throws by Brunson chipped at that, and his jumper from the elbow cut the lead to four. Two minutes left.
Castle connected from deep for the first triple of the quarter. Bad timing for us. Trailing by seven, Anunoby made one of two from the line. Then, with 30 seconds left, Captain Clutch drilled a three straight on. The Garden went crazy.
With 12 seconds left, Fox hit a contested jumper to make the score 113-108, and the Garden went silent.
Out of a timeout, Hart swung the ball to Anunoby for a corner three! 113-111. Nine seconds left.
New York intentionally fouled Castle, who made both from the line. 115-111. Out of a timeout, Bridges hoisted a three-point attempt, but he was the last person we wanted taking the shot after going Casper all night. He missed. Ballgame.
Up Next
The Knicks remain in the driver’s seat, ahead 2-1. We can comfortably chalk this loss up to poor performances by Bridges, Shamet, Robinson, too much Brunson, not enough Towns, and a few crappy calls. Quoth Real Clydes, “On to the next.” The pressure really will be on our heroes now, though. We do not like the idea of giving these Spurs the momentum of a tied series heading home to Texas. Not one bit. Game Four will be played at the Garden on Wednesday. Get ready, Knickerbockers.
