SAN ANTONIO — Maybe the Knicks play their best basketball with their backs against the wall. Because once again, they spotted a playoff opponent a double-digit lead. And once again, they mounted a ferocious comeback — only this time, there are no excuses. No caveats or asterisks for the team that’s become the NBA’s grave-digging undertaker.
And in true undertaker fashion, the Knicks rose from the dead once again, just as they did in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers. On that night, they spotted the Cavs a 22-point first-half lead before closing the game on a remarkable 44-11 run. In Game 1 of the 2026 NBA Finals, the Spurs built a double-digit first quarter lead then led by 14 points with 6:31 left in the third quarter.
But the Knicks do not die. Not when they were down 20 in Game 1 of the second round against the Boston Celtics last year. Not when they were down 20 in Game 2 of the second round last year. Not in the conference finals this year, and not on the biggest stage in basketball, on the Frost Bank Center hardwood floors with the Larry O’Brien trophy painted onto the Spurs’ mid-court logo.
The Knicks, staring basketball death in eye-to-eye, closed the third quarter on a 25-11 run. They went on to steal home-court advantage and beat the Spurs, 105-95, to take a 1-0 series lead on Wednesday. And now, they are three wins games away from basketball immortality. Three wins away from bringing New York City its first NBA title since 1973.
Three wins away from calling themselves NBA champions. Your New York Knicks did that. And of course, they had some help.
San Antonio is roughly 1800 miles away from New York City. It’s a cross-country flight posing a significant obstacle to Knicks fans who flooded Atlanta’s State Farm Arena, Philadelphia’s Xfinity Mobile Arena and Cleveland’s Rocket Arena through the first three rounds of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
At least that was the thought entering the NBA Finals, where the Spurs, a team with rich championship history, have been known to have one of the most passionate fanbases in all of sports. Yet there Knicks fans were, in droves, cheering their team on in their first NBA Finals appearance in a quarter-century.
Those fans may have witnessed the beginning of NBA history. The team that wins Game 1 of an NBA Finals series goes on to win the title roughly 70 percent of the time.
They also witnessed a masterclass from what’s becoming the best one-two punch in all of basketball. Karl-Anthony Towns out-played Victor Wembanyama long enough for Jalen Brunson to tie a bow on top with a corner three in crunch time. Towns put his head down and attacked the newly-crowned Defensive Player of the Year time and time again. In a low-scoring game, he finished with 18 points, 12 rebounds and four assists. And Brunson, two possessions after hitting the three that put the Knicks up late in the fourth, hit a fading two falling away from De’Aaron Fox to make it a three-possession game.
That was the moment Spurs fans began heading for the exits, the Knicks faithful waving them away as they did fans in Atlanta, Philly and Cleveland. Once again, Let’s Go Knicks chants rained down from the stands, the Frost Bank Center soundboard operator attempting to drown the chants out by increasing the volume of the in-arena music.
Only this story has played out one too many times. The Knicks are the comeback kids. No lead against them is safe. And now, for the Spurs, neither is their grasp of the NBA title.
Because if they couldn’t win a game that was ripe for the taking — a game Brunson fought through multiple knee injuries yet still finished with 30 points — it’s hard to see a way for them to steal one at Madison Square Garden.
And now, there’s a 70% chance the Knicks go on to raise their first championship banner in over 53 years.
