NBA Finals preview: Knicks vs Spurs, the matchup breakdown
The matchup that decides it, where each team wins possessions, and what the numbers say about the series.
The New York Knicks are NBA champions. They beat San Antonio 4-1, closing it out on the road in Game 5, 94-90, for the franchise’s first title since 1973. Jalen Brunson took Finals MVP with 32.6 points a game and 45 in the clincher. They won it on defense, holding the Spurs to 102 a game after San Antonio had averaged 115.3 through the first three rounds.
Brunson dropped 45 in the Game 5 clincher.
New York held San Antonio 13.3 points below the offense that had rolled through the West.
| Player | PPG | REB | AST | TS% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jalen Brunson | 32.6 | 4.2 | 4.6 | 53.6% |
| OG Anunoby | 21.2 | 4.8 | 1.0 | 71.4% |
| Karl-Anthony Towns | 13.0 | 10.6 | 2.4 | 59.4% |
| Mikal Bridges | 10.4 | 3.6 | 3.4 | 57% |
| Josh Hart | 7.6 | 9.8 | 4.6 | 51.2% |
| Landry Shamet | 6.8 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 43.6% |
| Jose Alvarado | 4.2 | 2.6 | 1.4 | 41.5% |
| Player | PPG | REB | AST | TS% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Victor Wembanyama | 26.0 | 11.2 | 2.6 | 53.1% |
| Dylan Harper | 18.0 | 6.4 | 3.0 | 57.3% |
| Stephon Castle | 14.6 | 5.4 | 4.2 | 50.4% |
| De'Aaron Fox | 12.8 | 3.0 | 6.0 | 43% |
| Devin Vassell | 12.8 | 6.8 | 2.8 | 72.6% |
| Julian Champagnie | 11.0 | 5.4 | 1.8 | 59% |
| Keldon Johnson | 4.4 | 3.0 | 0.6 | 41.5% |
1 · How They Got Here
Two very different routes. New York is 16-3 and has made it look easy, with a point differential (+14.9) that has no business being this high this deep into a run. San Antonio earned every inch of 13-10, taking OKC the full seven games to get out of the West.
| NYK | SAS | |
|---|---|---|
| 16-3 | Record | 13-10 |
| 115.8 | Points / game | 112.4 |
| 100.9 | Allowed / game | 104.9 |
| +14.9 | Margin | +7.5 |
| 48.9% | FG% | 45.8% |
| 39.1% | 3P% | 35.9% |
Regular season, for the record: they finished with the same 118.7 offensive rating. San Antonio won 62 games to New York’s 53 and holds home court.
2 · At the Rim
New York lives inside. Over half its shots come in the paint, where the Knicks finish at a 65.7% clip. The trouble is who is waiting for them. San Antonio gave up just 55.7% at the rim this postseason, the best mark of any playoff team, because Wembanyama swallows everything near the basket. The flip side: New York’s own rim defense is the one soft number on its résumé, and the Spurs go inside too.
The Spurs held opponents 10.0 points below the rate New York finishes at.
New York keeps teams off the rim better than the box score shows, but gives up 65.6% to the ones who get there.
3 · The Turnover Game
Here is what the “slow team” label misses. New York grinds in the half court, but its defense is a turnover machine that flips the game into transition. The Knicks force 14.2 turnovers a game in the playoffs and turn them into 17.3 points off turnovers and 16 fastbreak points a night. San Antonio protected the ball all season (12.6 a game), but the number climbed under playoff pressure, all the way to 15.4 in the Conference Finals.
25th in pace, but among the most dangerous teams in the league once they take the ball away.
When New York forced 22 San Antonio turnovers on Mar 1, it took 13 steals, scored 24 points off them, and won 114–89. That is the template New York rode to the title.
4 · Towns and Wembanyama
This is where it gets decided. Towns has been ruthlessly efficient in the playoffs, 68.4% true shooting with a real bump in passing (4.9 assists a night, up from 2.9). Wembanyama is the best player in the series and it is not especially close: 23.8 points, 10.9 boards, 3.5 blocks. Whoever wins the floor wins the trophy.
| Season | Playoffs | |
|---|---|---|
| PPG | 19.5 | 15.9 |
| REB | 11.5 | 10.6 |
| AST | 2.9 | 4.9 |
| BLK | 0.5 | 1.3 |
| FG% | 50.1% | 55.1% |
| 3P% | 36.8% | 45.6% |
| TS% | 61.9% | 68.4% |
| Season | Playoffs | |
|---|---|---|
| PPG | 25.0 | 23.8 |
| REB | 11.5 | 10.9 |
| AST | 3.1 | 2.7 |
| BLK | 3.1 | 3.5 |
| FG% | 51.2% | 48.5% |
| 3P% | 34.9% | 34.2% |
| TS% | 62.6% | 60.6% |
5 · When They Last Met
They split two games in the regular season, and both feel like ancient history now. The more useful tape is who chased who. New York never gave Wembanyama a single matchup, throwing Towns, Hart, Robinson and Anunoby at him in shifts. San Antonio put Julian Champagnie on Brunson, then watched Champagnie go off for 36 at the other end.
6 · How They Won It
- Nobody scored on them. 100.9 allowed is the best number in the bracket.
- A defense that forces 14.2 turnovers a game and runs them back the other way.
- Towns at 68.4% true shooting and Brunson setting the tempo they like.
- Wembanyama. He changes every shot New York wants to take.
- Home court and the deeper, younger bench.
- They just walked out of a Game 7. Nothing here will rattle them.
It is done. For the first time since 1973, the New York Knicks are NBA champions. They won it the unglamorous way, on defense, holding the best offense left in the bracket to 102.0 a game and winning 3 times in San Antonio. Jalen Brunson carried the offense to a Finals MVP (32.6 a night), capped by 45 in the closeout, and a deep, two-way roster did the rest. Give San Antonio its due: Wembanyama was magnificent, and the Spurs will be back. But this June belonged to New York. Fifty-three years of waiting, over. Relive it on the Knicks and Spurs pages.
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