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As the NBA season finally barrels toward its conclusion, we’re down to the final stage of the journey. After an 82-game regular season and nearly two months of playoff basketball, there are, at most, seven games remaining. Standing at the finish line are two teams with very different stories but one fascinating connection to Minnesota basketball.

On one side sits the San Antonio Spurs, the team that ended the Timberwolves’ season in May and spent six games methodically demonstrating why so many people believe Victor Wembanyama is destined to dominate the NBA for the next decade. On the other side are the New York Knicks, led in part by the former face of the Timberwolves franchise, Karl-Anthony Towns, whose blockbuster departure from Minnesota in 2024 remains one of the defining moments of the franchise’s recent history.

If you’re wondering where Wolves fans are likely to stand during this series, I don’t think it’s particularly complicated.

They’re standing with KAT.

You don’t spend nearly a decade carrying a franchise through some of its darkest years and then suddenly lose the support of an entire fan base because you got traded. For all the frustrations that occasionally accompanied Towns’ tenure in Minnesota, for all the playoff disappointments, for all the debates about whether he could ever be the best player on a championship team, it’s easy to forget what he actually meant to this organization.

When Towns arrived, the Timberwolves were still wandering through the post-Kevin Garnett wilderness. The franchise was largely irrelevant nationally. Playoff appearances were a pipe dream.

Towns became the bridge. He wasn’t the player who ultimately turned Minnesota into a perennial contender, that distinction belongs to Anthony Edwards, but he was the player who kept the franchise afloat long enough to reach that point.

He endured coaching changes, front-office dysfunction, roster overhauls, the Jimmy Butler saga, the Tom Thibodeau era, the Rudy Gobert trade fallout. Through all of it, he remained remarkably loyal to a franchise that often gave him more headaches than help. So yes, Wolves fans are spending June cheering for a former player. It’s understandable, and frankly, it’s deserved.

What makes this Finals particularly fascinating is that it feels like two completely different basketball realities colliding.

The Knicks have spent the last several weeks looking like a team of destiny. Everything has worked. Everything.

They stormed through the Eastern Conference with an efficiency that bordered on absurd. The Hawks, 76ers, and Cavaliers put up minimal resistance. In the rare moments where New York was challenged, they displayed the kind of confidence and momentum that tends to accompany teams that believe they’re on a special run.

The city is alive. Madison Square Garden is operating like a basketball cathedral again. It’s been 53 years since New York last won an NBA championship. The drought has lasted so long that it has almost become part of the franchise’s identity. And now they’re four wins away from ending it.

The problem is that reality has a funny way of crashing through fairytale stories, and that reality currently wears a Spurs jersey.

As impressive as New York has been, we should probably acknowledge something that’s being glossed over a little bit. The Knicks road to the Finals was not exactly lined with basketball murderers. They had the privilege of facing the 6th, 7th, and 4th seeds on the way to the Finals. That’s not meant to diminish what New York accomplished. You can only beat the teams in front of you, and the Knicks did exactly that. In fact, they didn’t merely beat those teams. They dominated them.

But now they’re stepping into an entirely different weight class.

After eliminating our talented, but injured Timberwolves, the Spurs marched into the Western Conference Finals and knocked off Oklahoma City, a team many people believed was destined to win the championship. The Thunder entered the postseason looking like the league’s final boss. They had the MVP. They had elite depth. They had home-court advantage. They had youth. They had experience. They had seemingly everything.

And yet here we are, with the Spurs are representing the Western Conference.

While the Knicks have looked dominant, San Antonio has looked dangerous. The Spurs possess a player who can completely distort the geometry of basketball. Every generation gets a player who forces us to rethink what basketball is supposed to look like. Kareem did it. Jordan did it. LeBron did it. Steph did it. Wembanyama feels like the next entry on that list.

So what happens in this series? Honestly, I think there are only two outcomes. The first is the one every basketball fan is hoping for. Six or seven games full of momentum swings, last-second shots, Garden crowds losing their minds, and Wembanyama doing alien things. The type of Finals people still talk about five years later.

The second possibility is far less exciting. The Knicks’ magic carpet ride crashes into reality. The Spurs’ talent advantage becomes overwhelming. Wembanyama takes control of the series, and what looked like a dream run suddenly turns into a fairly quick conclusion.

I genuinely don’t know which outcome we’re getting. That’s what makes this matchup fascinating. One team arrives carrying the hopes of an entire city that hasn’t celebrated a title since 1973. The other arrives carrying what increasingly feels like the future of the NBA.

Either way, Wolves fans will spend the remainder of this season cheering for Karl-Anthony Towns. Nearly two years removed from the trade, Towns remains one of us. And if he somehow ends up holding the Larry O’Brien Trophy a few weeks from now, there are going to be a lot of people in Minnesota smiling right alongside him.

Go get it, KAT.

It’s gameday, everyone.

The New York Knicks are in the NBA Finals. June basketball is here. I never thought this day would come.

I’ve spent the last few days reliving the recent playoff runs via YouTube highlights to truly encompass the path we’ve endured to get here, and while we can maybe save the whole story of the Knicks for another day, it’s important that we reflect on the 14 games that bridged a topsy-turvy regular season and the pinnacle of basketball.

The Knicks are 4.5-point underdogs tonight and +160 underdogs to raise the Larry O’Brien Trophy, both according to FanDuel, but with the way this team has been playing and the lessons they’ve learned about themselves over the course of the postseason, I don’t know how you can be anything but confident in their chances.

Let’s look back at the five plays that have defined this playoff run thus far:

The ending sequence of Game 3 in Atlanta

This might seem like an odd choice, given that this sequence resulted in a Knicks defeat, but we likely don’t see the absolute dominance we’ve gotten for the last 11 games without this game.

It was easy to chalk up Game 2 as a game of playoff shenanigans. A young team scrapped their way back from a 14-point deficit and rode the coattails of a generational heater by their vet, CJ McCollum, and caught the favorite napping in their own gym. It happens.

But when Atlanta burst out to an 18-point lead in Game 3, you started to get concerned, but the veteran team was able to weather the storm of being punched in the mouth on the road and came all the way back to take the lead late. This was the moment that the Knicks’ experience would prevail.

Well, not quite. After a very bad offensive possession resulted in a shot clock violation, Atlanta inbounded with 16 seconds left, trailing by one. The Knicks decided to play straight up, allowing McCollum to get the ball and face Deuce McBride 1-on-1. That strategy failed, and the Hawks took the lead.

Still, they had a chance to take the lead back or even win the game if they held the ball long enough. Yet, despite having one of the most clutch players on the planet, his resolve vanished in a similar fashion to the way it did in Game 6 against Miami three years ago, a mistake that ended their season.

This play personified the Knicks’ offense at this point. Mikal Bridges didn’t want the ball. Karl-Anthony Towns was willing to sit in the background. The team was utterly dependent on Jalen Brunson bailing them out late in games. If he struggled, the team was dead in the water.

Tears were shed in that locker room after falling behind 1-2. Knowing that this was unacceptable and sensing that a premature exit would mark the end of this era of Knicks basketball, everything changed after this.

They stopped letting McCollum work in isolation, blitzing him to force it out of his hands. They shifted to a KAT-centric offense, lightening the load on Brunson. Bridges found his confidence. Losing this game was necessary to be the wake-up call this team needed to get to the NBA Finals.

OG’s and-1 to go up 50 in Game 6

Fast forward to Game 6. The Knicks rolled to a Game 4 win to even up the series heading back to MSG and eviscerated the Hawks at home to put them on the brink of elimination in Game 6.

Despite falling behind 9-5 early, the Knicks looked the part of a Great White Shark. Their opponent was wounded and on their back feet.

They. Smelled. Blood.

The next 17-ish minutes saw the team go on a jaw-dropping 67-13 run, repeatedly turning over the Hawks, running out in transition, and scoring at will. The margin was incomprehensible. This sequence personified the degree of ass-kicking this game was.

Jalen Johnson, whose terrific All-NBA season went up in smoke over the course of this series, gets put into a box by Mitchell Robinson in the paint. Josh Hart races into the frontcourt before Atlanta could set their defense, allowing OG Anunoby to get downhill and score. The only reason it didn’t sound like a funeral after this was because of the Knicks fans.

Brunson’s five-point swing in Game 4 to close out Philly

There was no adversity to overcome in the four-game sweep of the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round. The only game that was competitive in the fourth quarter was Game 2, when Joel Embiid sat. The only game that Philly took a double digit lead was Game 2, but they didn’t lead for the last 34 minutes of the game.

By Game 4, the Sixers were dead. The Knicks were making triple after triple, much to the chagrin of the jarringly small number of Philly fans at Xfinity Mobile Arena. It was a Mother’s Day Massacre.

But no sequence displayed the true disparity between the heart and desire of these two teams more than when the Knicks extended their lead from 24 to 29 in less than 10 seconds early in the second half.

Brunson shakes Dominick Barlow out of his shoes and goes up-and-under Embiid for a reverse layup. A misguided outlet pass from Embiid was picked off by Deuce McBride, who got a hockey assist after Bridges hit Brunson in the corner for a three that gave the Knicks 99 points with over 19 minutes of game time remaining.

Landry Shamet’s gift from the heavens

The only time the Knicks have felt adversity in the last 40 days was Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. A rusty Knicks team couldn’t buy a make and were repeatedly exploited defensively as the Cavs abused the same game plan that stunted Tyrese Maxey and the 76ers.

It was 93-71 with under eight minutes to go, but we all know what happened from there. Brunson showed Tyler Kolek the true meaning of BBQ chicken with what he did to James Harden, dragging this team back into the game.

If I could pick a few more clips, I’d give credit to two gigantic shots by Bridges that countered the lone buckets from Cleveland down the stretch and gave the team life. Most of us thought it was over when Towns committed a dumb offensive foul, but his clutch shotmaking set up what happened next.

Towns got a piece of a Spida floater with a minute to go that gave the Knicks the ball, down by three. Brunson brought the ball up, was double-teamed, and made the right read to kick it to Anunoby, who then swung it to a wide open Landry Shamet.

If he misses this shot, the Cavs will have a three-point lead and the ball with under 45 seconds to go. The margin for error would be nonexistent. When the ball first hit the rim, it seemed like that was reality, but the basketball gods repaid the Knicks for Tyrese Haliburton’s improbable game-tying shot in a similar spot last year, giving Shamet a friendly role.

The Knicks aren’t here without Shamet’s blisteringly hot shooting. Every contender needs someone who can turn into a flamethrower on cue.

Cleveland gives up in Game 3

In case you haven’t noticed, a trend of this article is the Knicks breaking their opponents. It’s like Mike Brown’s been showing them clips from Rocky IV:

At this point, it’s all but academic in Game 3. The Knicks had come to Rocket Arena and had all but killed the Cavaliers. A 3-0 deficit is logistically impossible to come back from in basketball.

But you kinda had a feeling that the Memorial Day massacre was coming when Cleveland basically gave up at the end of the game. It looked like a team that was mentally checked out, something that was validated by Kenny Atkinson’s foolish remarks the next day at shootaround.

Aside from Max Strus, everyone stopped playing. This was a team dead in the water, mortally wounded by Game 1’s impossible comeback and firmly on life support after two more devastating blows to the heart. The Knicks are breaking their opponents, and that’s how they’ve made it to the NBA Finals.

BONUS: Danhausen’s curse

This has nothing to do with basketball, but the results speak for themselves, don’t they?

Maybe I’m just a tad superstitious.

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The New York Knicks are back in the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999 — and they’ll face the same opponent this year, too.

A direct rematch of the 1999 NBA Finals between the Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs begins tonight, June 3. As you may recall, these two teams faced off just six months ago in the 2025 NBA Cup championship game, which the Knicks won, 124-113.

The Spurs enter the series as the oddsmakers’ favorite largely due to the sheer defensive gravity of Victor Wembanyama, who completely altered the Western Conference Finals by playing heavy minutes, raining threes and anchoring a dominant net rating when on the floor.

Led by Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, the Knicks can’t be counted out easily. They rely heavily on outside shooting and floor spacing rather than just driving relentlessly into the paint where Wemby dominates.

The series will continue on Friday night for Game 2.

Knicks vs. Spurs start time:

Game 1 of the NBA Finals is scheduled to tip off at 8 p.m. ET tonight, June 3.

NBA Finals Game 1 streaming: How to watch Knicks vs. Spurs for free

If you don’t have cable, you’ll need a live TV streaming service to stream the game for free.

DIRECTV is our top pick for watching basketball live for free — its five-day free trial includes ABC, where every game of the NBA Finals will air. When the trial is over, you’ll pay as low as $44.99/month and gain access to over 90 live channels.

Sling TV is another affordable way to watch TV live and stream NBA games; its Select plan includes ABC and starts at $19.99/month.

NBA Finals schedule 2026

All games will air on ABC at 8:30 p.m. ET.

• Game 1: Wednesday, June 3
• Game 2: Friday, June 5
• Game 3: Monday, June 8
• Game 4: Wednesday, June 10
• Game 5: Saturday, June 13*
• Game 6: Tuesday, June 16*
• Game 7: Friday, June 19*

* if necessary

Why Trust Post Wanted by the New York Post

This article was written by Angela Tricarico, Commerce Streaming Reporter for Post Wanted Shopping, Page Six, and Decider.com. Angela keeps readers up to date with cord-cutter-friendly deals, and information on how to watch your favorite sports teams, TV shows, and movies on every streaming service. Not only does Angela test and compare the streaming services she writes about to ensure readers are getting the best prices, but she’s also a superfan specializing in the intersection of shopping, tech, sports, and pop culture. When she’s not writing about (or watching) TV, movies, and sports, she’s also keeping up on the underrated perfume dupes at Bath & Body Works and testing headphones. Prior to joining Decider and The New York Post in 2023, she wrote about streaming and consumer tech at Insider Reviews.

The Spurs depth in the regular season was one of their strengths, with up to 11 current players having rotation spots at some point or another. That includes veteran Harrison Barnes and rookie Carter Bryant swapping places midseason, but even as the rotation has shortened, they have both still been situationally used in the playoffs (albeit in short leashes).

Despite all that depth, how the game has gone for the Spurs has depended more and more on how Victor Wembanyama has performed as the playoffs progress. When he’s great, the Spurs usually win, but when he’s merely “good” but doesn’t get a lot of help (or, you know, has to leave the game for reasons he either did or didn’t cause), the Spurs have struggled. Now that we have reached the NBA Finals against a similarly deep and stronger Knicks team, everyone will have to step up.

The Spurs have seen almost everyone step up at some point or another in these playoffs, but there’s one player they seem to benefit the most from when he has a big game, and that’s rookie guard Dylan Harper. In our In the Bonus article from after Game 7 against the Thunder, this was part of my answer to the question, “Who was the second most important Spur” after Victor Wembanyama:

I’m going to go out on a limb (and probably differ from everyone else) and say Harper because he is the biggest wildcard of the group. Outside of Wemby, perhaps the biggest deciding factor in each game was if the Spurs’ bench would hold on when he sat, and when Harper was out for most of Game 2 or ineffective from games 3-5 with the sore adductor, it was a much bigger hurdle for them to overcome. When he was on point in games 1 (which he admittedly started), 6 and 7, the Spurs had the upper hand almost the entire time.

This got me to thinking, as many X factors as the Spurs have in this series, Harper could be the most important one, just like he was against OKC. An X factor is defined as “a circumstance, quality, or person that has a strong but unpredictable influence,” and that certainly applies to Harper. He’s a rookie, and despite having a poise and maturity level beyond his years, he‘s still going to have his ups and downs, but perhaps nothing showed his value more than when he was at his best against the Thunder, and that is bound to be the case against the Knicks as well.

None of this is to say he needs to be their second best player or leading scorer after Wemby or completely take over games, but he needs to help keep the offense flowing for the second unit when De’Aaron Fox and/or Stephon Castle sits and keep hitting big, timely shots like he did in Game 7. As previously stated, when he’s been on, the Spurs have had the advantage; when he isn’t, they suffer when the starters sit. The Finals is all hands on deck, and even though Keldon Johnson was Sixth Man of the Year, the second unit’s performance and perhaps the Spurs’ fate begins and ends with Harper.

(For added proof, FanDuel Sportsbook has Harper as 4th most likely Spur to win Finals MVP behind Wemby, Fox and Castle. How far has he come that a rookie bench player is looked so highly upon?)

Other Spurs X Factors

Julian Champagnie — After a hot first round, Champagnie’s three-point shooting has been up and down in the last two rounds, and his impact is pretty clear. In their 12 wins, he has shot 40% from three; in their six loss, just 29.8%. Almost every rotation player on the Knicks is an above average three-point shooter, which could be their biggest advantage. The Spurs will need everyone to step up in that regard, especially their best shooter, who needs to either help prevent double-teams on Wemby by making shots or capitalize off them — by making shots.

De’Aaron Fox’s ankle — As an All-Star, Fox himself is not a X Factor, but his gimpy ankle turns him into one. After suffering a high ankle sprain in the second round against Minnesota, he missed Games 1 and 2 against the Thunder, which the Spurs split thanks to a fantastic performance from Harper in Game 1. However, it took him until about Game 6 or 7 to look right again, but while the Spurs certainly missed his slashing ability and automatic offense in that time frame, his mere presence was able keep the turnovers down. They’ll need that at a minimum from him again, but the closer he can get to the healthiest version of himself, the better.

Keldon Johnson — It goes without saying that KJ has suffered the Curse of the Award in these playoffs (a.k.a. when a player wins something, then their production in the postseason suffers — it’s especially known to attack MVP’s). Similar to Harper and another player to be listed below, the Spurs need the bench to perform in those crucial non-Wemby (and Fox, Castle, etc.) minutes. KJ got some redemption with an offensive explosion in the fourth quarter of Game 7, and they’ll need of his Sixth Man of the Year form throughout the Finals.

Luke Kornet — Kornet has and will continue to be the target of driving lanes the instant Wemby sits because opponents know how valuable those minutes are. He’s not the only reason the non-Wemby minutes have been largely negative, but he’s the one carrying the burden, fairly or not. Like KJ, hopefully his redemption from Game 7 carries over. We may also get some French Vanilla minutes since the Knicks are equally as capable of playing two bigs, so that’s another scenario he needs to be ready for and could be a huge factor.