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In the morning hours of July 21, 1861, the carriages began to arrive in Centreville, Virginia.

Once a bustling center of trade (before newer roads and railroads diverted the traffic it depended on), it was then home to little more than 100 people.

Whether there was anyone left in the village who owned a carriage is a question for a better historian than I, but you can be almost certain that no one owned any form of transportation as ornately decorated and carved as the beautifully hewn landaus and barouches that were filtering into the town, one by one.

Nattily attired men and women emerged in due time from the interiors of their luxurious conveyances, suits and mustaches neatly brushed, summer dresses pressed and long hair ringleted, with an air of curiosity one might rightly confuse with that of those attending a sporting event.

Washington, D.C.’s wealthy and elite were arriving in force, but to what end?

I imagine word migrated rather quickly around the village. Even in its heyday as a regional thoroughfare, this would have been more than a minor sensation. Senators, and blue-bloods, and servants were milling about the street making inquiries and running errands, and the inquiries were of the strangest sort.

Where might one best view the battle from this location?

The battle? Why would anyone want to watch a battle? A picnic?!

Yes, a picnic. As servants (and those who did not have/bring servants) began to unpack the still-accumulating coaches and buggies, the intent became crystal clear. It was no jest.

Baskets, and bags, and a variety of caddies, canteens, and casks were lowered down or lifted out of traveling storage to be toted off to a predetermined place of best possible spectation.

You see, Centreville had been built on a plateau. And while it had largely been chosen by both Native Americans and English settlers for the various creeks and water sources that flow into Bull Run, and eventually, the Occoquan River — the vista is also outstanding, looking out over what are now multiple national parks, with the Bull Run Mountains in clear view, and the Blue Ridge Mountains just beyond them.

And, most importantly in this instance, an outstanding panoramic view of the rolling plains of Manassas, located just outside of a railroad junction.

That Manassas Junction was located just 100 miles north of the new Confederate capital of Richmond (near another rail connection to the Shenandoah Valley) and a mere 30 miles south of Washington, D.C was a matter of much conversation.

The strategic importance of said junction had been more or less agreed upon by generals of both the Union Army and the Confederacy. Both armies hoped to use the depot to transport their troops for the invasion of the opposition’s capital city and in defense of their own.

And so it was that after just months of training, the two armies found themselves camped on the opposite sides of the river, with nothing but gentle slopes, scattered woods, and grassland between them, preparing for the first real stretch of open battle of the American Civil War.

Which is why the arrival of affluent civilians had been so shocking to the people of Centreville, who with the exit of Union soldiers in the middle of the night had expected nothing beyond further military reserves, much less smartly-dressed spectators toting meals, and blankets, and opera glasses to the edge of the plateau (and even into some of the closer surrounding hills) to conduct a jolly luncheon within sight of the battlefield.

Cannons had already fired, just before dawn. The socialites and congressmen had surely been told that.

And yet there they sat, sandwiches in hand, crusts probably cut off, certain of glorious victory and a dammed good show.

And for most of the week, that’s all I could think about. In almost every online avenue predictions of (relatively) easy victory rang out. Spurs in five! No, in four! No, Knicks in four! Five at worst!

It was a strange sensation to be confronted with. Uneasiness. Apprehension. A vague sense of dread. Whatever you want to call it, it was there, in the pit of my stomach.

It’s the Finals! I should be elated! No one thought this would happen so soon!

But neither group of fans seemed to understand how good the other team was. How hard this was going to be. How so far from assured it was.

Titles are always hard to win, but the postseason pedigree of Spurs fans and the desperation of Knicks fans was combining in a way that felt catastrophic. And it was easy to see the reasoning.

The Knicks had managed to avoid the heavyweights of their conference. And none of those teams had a defensive character resembling that of the Blazers, Timberwolves, or Thunder.

And they are, after all, the Knicks, a team most recently renowned for their (and their owner’s) talent for snatching defeat from the Jaws of victory.

They’re not the Yankees, they’re the Mets, a team that astounds everyone when they’re good (including their own fans) and always seems to become so by near happenstance.

And the Spurs? Well, have you heard of Wemby? You know, the human telephone pole who suppresses shot attempts just by existing?

Yeah, they have that guy. The Knicks haven’t’ faced that guy. Or anyone tough, really. Not like the Spurs have.

Never mind that they’re the youngest Finalists since the ‘77 Trail Blazers. That they have precious little postseason experience. That they’ve been playing beyond their years to such an extent that they can’t possible comprehend what they’ve done, much less be expected to maintain it.

Look, I get it. I’m a Spurs writer, and a Spurs fan. And I desperately wanted to believe that this would be a cakewalk after the seven game hall of horrors that the last series walked us through. But with every breezy prediction, that pit in my stomach seemed to grow.

I was almost angry about it.

What are these people thinking?! Don’t they know the basketball gods are fickle? Have they never read a single Greek myth? Have they never heard of what happens to the mortals who dare to display their hubris so nakedly.

At least I keep all of my hubris inside. Which makes me better than all of them. And also the gods.

And I have to admit, the Knicks are one of the two NBA teams I truly have a soft spot for.

Years ago, in preparation for an article about a Spurs and Knicks regular season contest, I read Harvey Araton’s seminal 1970’s Knicks chronicle When The Garden Was Eden followed by Charley Rosen’s equally enthralling The Pivotal Season (he himself being a lifelong Knicks fans and onetime assistant coach to former Knicks legend Phil Jackson) and I was enthralled by the tales of those New York teams to such an extent that I consider them a spiritual predecessor to the Popovich Spurs, among others.

(Former NBA + Spurs coach and Pop mentor Larry Brown grew up in New York as a massive fan of 70’s Knicks coach Red Holtzman)

Those Knicks teams were great at sharing the ball, and knowing their role, and excelling in the clutch, and were coordinated by a coach so similar in attitude, strategic genius, and career/life arc to San Antonio’s longtime skipper that you’d almost think they were carbon copies.

And all postseason I’ve seen flashes of those teams in these Knicks, and to be perfectly honest, it scares the absolute daylights out of me.

“Spurs in 7”, I predicted shakily before Game 1.

I found myself snorting at my trepidation in the first quarter. Maybe I’d had the wrong end of it after all. Maybe all this writing had made me lose touch with the gut feelings that a fan has.

Maybe I’ve just gotten so in my head that I’m not as connected to the sense of inevitability that I used to get in the regular season and the postseason, when I could feel in my bones that the Spurs were coming home with O’Brien.

And then it stopped being easy. And New York kept slapping away leads like a Victorian orphan. And every Spur seemed to have a case of the butterfingers, while balls that shouldn’t have gone in for the Knicks unerringly found the bottom of the net.

The walls were closing in, and I was right, but boy did being right feel bad. Rarely have I more wanted to be wrong in the moment than last night.

It must have resembled some minute version of how General Winfield Scott felt when Abraham Lincoln insisted that the newly expanded and barely trained Union Army march directly on Richmond.

Or when he received news of retreat after they were handed their first defeat in a war that he must have known would rage on for years, as opposed to the mere months the President had hoped for, and that the populace had expected.

And what a retreat it was. Having failed to take the junction, any progress the Union forces had made was thwarted by the Confederates’ ability to continue bringing in reinforcements by train.

By the late afternoon, they were outnumbered almost 2-1, and their lines broke and withdrew in a mass so chaotic and without leadership that it was dubbed ‘The Great Skedaddle’ by southern journalists of the time.

Leaving behind their arms and equipment, and wagons and artillery, and all manner of supplies, the terrified blue-clad soldiers quite literally headed for the hills, unknowingly aimed directly at the cavalcade of voyeuristic picnickers still seated there.

Slow to realize what was happening, some of the onlookers were still seated when the first of the troops who were on horseback came galloping through. Others, being somewhat more aware, had already scrambled for their carriages and, in their panic, were now clogging the road that the army was trying to use to retreat.

Had the almost equally inexperienced Confederate soldiers been a bit more seasoned, or their commanders a bit more zealous, the war might have ended soon after, with the complete destruction of the retreating forces and a subsequent advance on the U.S. capital.

Thankfully, an overabundance of caution (due to Scott’s prescient insistence that a second force of 18,000 men be stationed near Harper’s Ferry in the event of a rogue Confederate incursion) kept the defeat from resulting in total disaster.

But Winfield Scott was blamed (in addition to commanding General Irvin McDowell) for the catastrophe and resigned shortly after, as Lincoln began to omit him from critical meetings, still determined to advance directly on Richmond rather than adopting Scott’s shrewder (though admittedly, slower) ‘Anaconda Plan’ to surround and divide the Confederate states, and cut off all supply and transportation routes.

The victory was not quite what it seemed, though, for the Confederacy.

It was not just citizens of the Union who had been convinced that the war would be quickly ended. Once news reached the southern populace, they became even more convinced of their military superiority, and so, unfortunately (or rather, fortunately) did many of their political leaders and commanders.

Many historians have since agreed that the one-sided nature of the battle “proved the greatest misfortune that would have befallen the Confederacy” having imbued the South with a false sense of invincibility.

Much more fatally, it removed almost all sense of urgency.

Content with easy victories at the start of the war, due to (among other things) an edge in the quality of their officers, the Confederacy failed to fully exploit their advantage, or recognize its temporary nature.

Yes, the Union Army was green, but for much of the latter two-thirds of the war, it would have the superior numbers, due to population density.

And it would also be better supplied, since the greatly inferior Confederate Navy could neither blockade the North, nor break free of the blockade imposed upon them, even without taking into account that the majority of industry and advantageous transportation (railways) existed north of the Mason-Dixon line.

The South hoped to wage a war of attrition against a deeper, better-supported army, for some reason unable to discern that their disadvantage would only grow as time wore on.

And after last night, there’s a chance that the Knicks (and certainly their fans) may overestimate the nature of their victory and what it signifies.

For Knicks fans, last night was a display of veteran superiority. Of superior execution, outstanding defense, and timely shooting.

For Spurs fans, it was the result of an off-night for the team with the greater Superstar, superior depth, and overall higher ceiling, likely brought on by a youthful reaction to the significance of the moment, and lingering exhaustion from a brutal previous series.

The rest advantage will be less now that the Knicks are back on the court (and getting a little banged-up themselves). The youthful trepidation is unlikely to last.

The longer the series goes on, the more it plays into the favor of the more youthful team (who also have home-court advantage in the event of another Game 7 ), and the more their depth will sustain them.

The Knicks must win as quickly as possible. Their window is small. And that is its own kind of pressure. The Spurs’ window will almost certainly be open for some time.

New York City is a pressure cooker of desperation and a ‘what have you done for me lately’ attitude.

San Antonio offers a comfortable respite for their players.

The greater burden is squarely on the Knicks — to capitalize on their victory.

It’s possible that they haven’t realized that yet, but even if they do/have the series is far from over.

Both civilian populations were convinced that the Civil War could be ended in a single battle. It dragged on for four long years, ending as the once-great General Winfield Scott had anticipated and strategized.

And though it took an intelligent and otherwise unassuming General Ulysses S. Grant to execute it (who, unlike many of Lincoln’s previous selections recognized Scott’s genius, and adapted his own plans to include it), Scott lived to see himself vindicated.

He died a year after the war ended, at the (then) very ripe old age of 79, his legacy secure.

He had sent a copy of his recently completed memoirs to Grant (whom he had advised Lincoln to appoint Commander-in-Chief of the Army in 1862), inscribed with a single sentence of gratitude and humility: “From the oldest General, to the greatest General.”

Spurs in 7. Go, Spurs, Go.

Takeways

• There were several moments in crunch time when no one seemed to be able to hold onto the ball or make the right decision. Everyone except for Devin Vassell, that is. While all of the Spurs have been prone to bouts of inconsistency in the playoffs, even on a meh shooting night, Vassell never stopped giving his best effort and using his head. Particularly critical was a late position, where, noticing that he was boxed in the paint, Vassell recognized that an alley-oop to Victor (who had position and reach) would almost certainly draw a foul due to the way that Wemby was being guarded. Everything started slipping away after that canny bit of improvisation and the ensuing free throws, but it wasn’t Vassell’s fault, who stuck to Jalen Brunson like a rodent trap and was just on the bad side of some shooting luck from Brunson (who he otherwise helped hassle into a 12-31 shooting performance). I know he’s still got some time on his contract, but I wouldn’t hate it if the Spurs tried to early extend him at a (relative) discount. He’s been a coffin-nail for the better part of this incredible run from the Spurs.
• The Spurs wasted another solid shooting performance from Julian Champagnie on a night where their dreaded three-point variance reared its ugly head. We know that the Spurs have really only have two modes when it comes to downtown conversion: unrelenting drought or annihilating flood, but it’s easier to embrace that in the regular season. That they actually shot more threes than the three-happy Knicks almost made it feel like that nightmare of a Game 7 that the Rockets had against the Warriors back in 2018, and it actually wasn’t far off. They took one less bomb than those Rockets, and only made four more shots. So, while the Spurs should definitely drop the attempts a bit, it’s good to know that it took approaching historical misfortune for them to lose the way they did. I wouldn’t bet on that holding up.
• Much has been made of Dylan Harper’s absence in crunch time, but Carter Bryant’s utilization should also be a point of interest, as he got only four minutes of court time and was assigned the far-too-slippery Brunson as an assignment. It might be a better idea to try him on Towns, Anunoby, or even give him some minutes against the bench shooters, who were a thorn in San Antonio’s side every time they tried to pull away. I understand that he’s a rookie, but almost everything has to be on the table at this stage of the postseason, and the Knicks are absolutely going to make adjustments of their own. Hopefully, Mitch Johnson is just keeping Bryant in his back pocket for now.

Playing You Out – The Theme Song of the Evening:

Part of the Plan by Dan Fogelberg

Two of the Spurs’ most visible fans will not be in their seats for Game 2 of the NBA Finals after an incident at a previous playoff contest left them so shaken that it “has greatly shifted” their experience going to games. 

OnlyFans models Blue and Julie J. Swan were involved in an incident in which they allege they were verbally accosted by several fans during Game 6 of the Western Conference finals. One fan allegedly grabbed Blue during an exchange captured on video and posted on social media. 

While the two women were at Game 1 of the NBA Finals, their comfort level has changed, and they will not attend Game 2 from their courtside seats behind the Spurs bench. 

“I had a lot of anxiety, and I still do thinking about going to a game,” Swan told The Post in a phone interview Thursday. “Because what if they do that again? Or what if there’s other people that will do that? It put that fear and anxiety in my mind; it’s like a stadium full of people. You don’t know who’s there. We had no idea that this was even possible at a game at this level of importance.”

Swan said that the incident had “lingered in the back of my mind” since she’s been back at Frost Bank Center.

Blue originally shared the brief clip on May 29, but it gained traction on Thursday after she reshared it, potentially connecting the man in the video to a fan who was possibly involved in an incident with Jalen Brunson at the end of Game 1. 

In the video, the man can be heard telling Blue that it was “disgraceful that you sit like that” while pointing his finger toward her. He allegedly put his hand on Blue, which prompted her to tell the individual not to touch her. 

Swan alleged that another man and a woman, who were both with the first man, also started with them while they were taking pictures near the court, with the woman making bunny ears behind one girl. When the OnlyFans models were about to leave, the other male allegedly accosted them. 

Swan alleges that the man called them “chopped,” which is a slang term for calling someone ugly, repeatedly, as they were leaving. 

“It was too much. I was pretty upset leaving, just sitting in my car afterward,” Swan said. “Trying to let the adrenaline die down, and I did end up crying because I felt very unsafe at the stadium. I don’t know, it was a lot.” 

James B., who identified himself to The Post as the manager for Swan and Blue, said arena security was notified, but there wasn’t much of an initial response at first.

The group was initially talked to and allowed to remain in their seats. 

Following the latter incident during the conference finals, security became more involved, but James said the alleged agitators left quickly before security could do anything.

Security escorted both women to their seats at the NBA Finals and assured that nothing would happen again. 

The Spurs did not return requests for comment over the alleged incidents from The Post.

Swan and Blue have gained internet fame during the Spurs’ playoff run as eagle-eyed basketball fans took notice of the women behind the team bench. The two even shared photos of themselves with NBA legend Charles Barkley, who has previously made unfavorable comments about women from San Antonio. 

While the whole incident has put a cloud over the fun Swan would have had at the games she attended, she said she’ll still be turning into Game 2 on Friday. 

“I still love the Spurs so very much,” she said. “I wish that it could be different, and I wish that this had never happened, so that I could still have that fairytale moment going to these, to these games. It just makes me really sad.”

NBA commissioner Adam Silver is happy to see that President Donald Trump will be at Madison Square Garden for Game 3 of the NBA Finals. 

Trump confirmed with reporters at the White House on Thursday that he would make the trip to New York to see the Knicks play in their first NBA Finals home game at MSG since 1999.

The NBA commish said Trump would be “welcome” at the game and backed his credentials as a Knicks fan. 

Donald Trump, before he ever ran for office, he was a big Knicks fan,” Silver said, according to the Guardian. “I was there at many Knicks games with him in the old days. He attended many of our drafts when they used to take place at Madison Square Garden.”

Silver viewed the visit from the president as a chance to “emphasize what we have in common, not what pulls us apart.”

“We’re seeing that in New York, and I think President Trump is very much a New Yorker, and I’m thrilled that yet another New Yorker wants to participate in the enthusiasm and the joy around this Knick team,” Silver said. 

The Post was the first to report that Trump would take in the game, and it would mark the fifth major sporting event in the New York area that he has attended since he took office for his second term in 2025. 

It will be the first time a sitting U.S. president has attended the NBA Finals during Silver’s tenure as commissioner. 

As expected, there will be an additional layer of security at Madison Square Garden with the president in attendance, and it’s unclear how it will impact the usual jovial atmosphere outside the arena following a win. 

Trump praised the Knicks while speaking at the White House and was impressed with the way they contained Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama. 

“I say, how do you guard this guy? He’s 7-foot-5 and he’s got a great shot, right? But they find a way to do it. They’re really great,” Trump said. 

Fellow politico, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, will also be attending Game 3, but told reporters on Thursday that he “will be in a very different section of the stadium.”

SAN ANTONIO — The record is lopsided.

As the Knicks prepare for Game 2 of the NBA Finals, it’s tantalizing what a win would mean for them.

Teams that take a 2-0 series lead in the Finals are 32-5 for the series, according to Elias Sports Bureau. That is the opportunity the Knicks have ahead of them Friday after their 105-95 comeback win in Game 1 on Wednesday.

Game 2 so often dictates the trajectory of a series. And it would be even more commanding for the Knicks, considering they are then going back to their home court. They can return to New York in complete control of the Finals.

“I don’t think of anything like that, the 1-1, 2-0,” Karl-Anthony Towns said Thursday. “I just think it’s 0-0. The next game is the most important game of the year, so just continue to stay in the present, not worry about what the future may look like, not worry about what we’ve done in the past. Just cancel all that out and just worry about the present. [Friday] when we step on the court should be the same determination, desperation, energy level and physicality needed for a win.”

The alternative would mean the Spurs capture a bit of hope and momentum as the series shifts locations.

They’re a team that has thrived in that regard. They trailed 1-0 in the second round against the Timberwolves before winning the series in six games. They trailed both 2-1 and 3-2 in the Western Conference finals against the Thunder before advancing.

Both times, the Spurs’ opponents failed to land a big punch when they had a chance to take a two-game lead or end the series. Both times, it came back to bite them.

“It’s very reassuring,” Victor Wembanyama said Thursday. “We know we’re not here by chance. We’ve been through some weird situations. Yes, it’s reassuring to know that these guys, the 18 guys we got, are built this way, are resilient.”

“We’ve been consistent in that regard,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson added. “I think one thing we have learned in our three series is that series are long. Games are long. Things shift quickly, whether that’s health, who’s playing well or hot, quote/unquote, at the time. Teams at this stage typically have shown the ability to evolve on the fly and improve within a series. That’s how you see these series go back and forth, and these teams make great adjustments and take advantage of those.”

The Spurs are confident that the result will be different Friday, and it has nothing to do with the Knicks.

To a man, they suggested that it wasn’t anything the Knicks did that made the difference Wednesday, but rather their own lack of execution and mental approach.

Stephon Castle said they still believe the Spurs are the better team.

A 2-0 Knicks series lead can change that sentiment and all that bravado in a hurry. Perhaps nerves and worry would finally begin to kick in for this young Spurs team.

The Knicks had one of their least efficient games of the postseason and still won. Jalen Brunson had a brutal shooting night for three quarters, and the Knicks still won. They fell into a 14-point deficit and still won.

All of that bodes well.

“We got to be better,” Mikal Bridges said Thursday, “and I know we will be in Game 2.

“Our biggest game is our next game because it’s our next game. That’s how we look at it. It’s always just 1-0 if you win. After that game, it’s back to 0-0. I don’t know if we look at it eight straight, nine straight, seven straight [wins], whatever it is. We look at it, win this game, after that it’s 0-0, learn what you got to do better for the next game.”

The Knicks might not acknowledge it, but the tone of the series — for the next few days, at least — hangs in the balance.

History shows what a 2-0 lead would mean.