The Bounce: The Knicks still can’t lose. Plus, where might Giannis land?
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During last night’s first quarter of Game 1 of the NBA Finals, the San Antonio Spurs ran a video on the jumbotron. The Coyote mascot bashed three stone pieces with a sledgehammer. The stones had the Blazers, Wolves and Thunder logos for each playoff round. Then the Coyote smashed one with the Knicks logo. I don’t think you can do that in Game 1!
Dandy dozen
Knicks have won 12 straight playoff games
Back in 1999, the Spurs reeled off a 12-game winning streak during the postseason. They lost Game 2 in the first round to Minnesota, then rattled off a dozen straight by closing out the Wolves in four (remember, they were five-game series then), sweeping the Lakers and Trail Blazers in the next two rounds and winning the first two games of the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks. Then the Knicks snapped that streak in Game 3 before the Spurs closed out and won the title in Game 5.
Fast-forward to the present day, and the Knicks are following a very similar path with their own 12-game playoff winning streak. After going down 2-1 to Atlanta in Game 3 of the first round, they’ve won out — beating the Hawks in six, sweeping the 76ers and Cavaliers and taking Game 1 against the Spurs, 105-95. It’s their 11th victory by double digits during this streak.
Last night’s win feels a little bit different for two reasons:
1) It’s the NBA Finals. I mean … of course. This is the biggest stage, and the Knicks coming back from being down 14 in the second half in San Antonio is easily their biggest win of the postseason.
2) It’s the quality of the opponent. Plenty of people have dismissed New York’s playoff dominance or watered it down because of the teams they played. Well, the Spurs are about as good as it gets, and the Knicks beat them too.
I was in the building for Game 1, and there were big, loud patches of Knicks fans who infiltrated the Frost Bank Center. They’d start a Knicks chant, and then the Spurs fans would try to drown out the noise. It became more and more difficult for them when the Knicks went on their fourth-quarter run to take the lead. And then there was the fan who ran on the court in the fourth quarter to take a selfie with Victor Wembanyama.
There’s so much to be dissected here. Let’s do a Game 1 Stock Report overreaction!
📈 First-half Dylan Harper: No part of him seemed like he was a rookie in his first finals minutes. He scored 12 points off the bench in the first half and only needed five shots to do it.
📉 Second-half Harper: The mysticism went away, and the Spurs were pretty bad with him on the floor. He had four points on five shots in the third, and then was mostly inconsequential in the fourth before Mitch Johnson subbed him out.
📈 First-half Julian Champagnie: He was looking like Ray Allen on the Miami Heat. He had 15 points, going 5-of-6 from deep.
📉 Second-half Champagnie: He had one point on 0-of-5 shooting, including 0-of-4 from deep. Still a good game, overall, but the Spurs needed some makes in the fourth quarter.
📉 First-three-quarters Jalen Brunson: He hurt his leg, then hurt his ankle on another play. He was hobbled and even went back to the locker room at one point. Brunson’s play on the court was also rough. He had 17 points but needed 22 shots to get them.
📈 Fourth-quarter Brunson: As our James Edwards III put it, he’s simply one of the great clutch scorers the sport has ever seen. Brunson found his rhythm and helped the Knicks close out the game with 13 fourth-quarter points on 5-of-9 shooting. Yeah, he was 12-of-31 overall for his 30 points, but the way he closed was special.
📉 First-three-quarters OG Anunoby: I legitimately forgot Anunoby was on the court for most of this game. He didn’t guard Wemby much. He didn’t hit shots. He looked uncomfortable on the floor.
📈 Fourth-quarter Anunoby: This was the same Anunoby we saw close out the NBA Cup championship against the Spurs in Las Vegas. Brunson got a lot of shine for his fourth, but Anunoby joined him with 12 points in the final quarter.
📉 First-three-quarters Wembanyama: He had 15 points, five rebounds, three blocks, four turnovers and 3-of-13 shooting in the first three quarters. He flat-out said, “I was bad tonight,” in his postgame news conference.
📈 Fourth-quarter Wemby: He got it together in the fourth with 11 points and seven rebounds, but he didn’t close the game well. It was just enough to feel like he was headed in the right direction. He said after the game that he wasn’t worried and it was all correctable. I believe him. It’s ridiculous that you can have 26 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks in your first NBA Finals game and it’s a bad one. But 6-of-21 from the field and six turnovers with the home loss will do that.
📈 Karl-Anthony Towns: It didn’t always work, but Towns was aggressive in attacking Wemby. Also in defending him. He did a great job all night and finished with 16 points, 12 rebounds and four assists. He was so good in the game that it led to …
📉 Chet Holmgren: Yeah, he caught strays all night online about how KAT was going at Wemby, something Holmgren never did during the Spurs-Thunder series. It’s tough to be the topic of negative play in a game you didn’t play in.
Playoff Panic Meter: 🚨🚨🚨 for San Antonio.
When is Game 2? Tomorrow at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
Is it a must-win for San Antonio? Yes, absolutely. Can’t go down 0-2 heading to New York.
The last 24
✝ Sister act. The Knicks have celebrity fans. But the Spurs have nuns on their side, and our Mirin Fader has their story.
🪣 Brunson buckets. Rustin Dodd waxed about Brunson’s play. What it means to have his mindset.
🌲 Get it done. Remember that whole Clippers investigation? Adam Silver says the NBA needs to wrap it up.
🗽 Legendary. The New York Times’ Matt Flegenheimer watched Game 1 alongside two-time Knicks champion and former U.S. senator Bill Bradley. He had plenty to say.
🔬 Feverish. A sideline spat with her coach that went viral shows how much Caitlin Clark is under the microscope in Indiana.
🔊 “NBA Daily.” Watch and listen to a breakdown of last night’s game.
Stream the NBA on Fubo (try it for free!) and catch out-of-market games on League Pass.
Gone-is?
The Giannis situation could be resolved soon
There seems to be a self-imposed draft-day deadline for the Milwaukee Bucks deciding whether to move on from the Giannis Antetokounmpo era. Of course, they could always try to keep him and sign him to an extension in October. But all the smoke leading toward a “mutual” breakup between the two parties has to be coming from fire. At least, that’s what everybody around the NBA seems to believe.
The Bucks have been open about wanting a resolution, one way or another, and getting it done by draft day makes the most sense. If you’re going to leverage the trade asset that everybody wants (Giannis), then you’re going to try to acquire the highest draft picks immediately. Sam Amick and Eric Nehm broke down the lay of the Giannis land yesterday, outlining everything they’re hearing about a potential landing spot.
Let’s go over some of it.
Thunder: This was immediately the prevailing thought when the Thunder dropped Game 7 to the Spurs. Holmgren’s stock has never been lower, but it’s still high enough to believe you can use him in a trade to get a significant return. Could that return be Giannis? OKC has 12 first-round picks and 13 second-round picks between now and 2033. That’s enough to entice the Bucks. But there’s no evidence the Thunder are looking to do something dramatic like that. Plus, their cap situation is about to be really tough starting this summer.
Heat: This was considered to be the best deal before the deadline, and it still is. That is … as long as someone like OKC doesn’t decide it wants Giannis. Tyler Herro and Kel’el Ware would likely be part of the package, along with picks. And Giannis is said to have some interest in Miami. The Heat have been interested since 2020.
Celtics: This has been a team that’s popped up recently, and there’s some confusion about where the interest is here. Are the Celtics interested? Is Giannis interested in going there? Would he sign an extension? Does Jaylen Brown have to go to the Bucks in this scenario, or would he go somewhere else in a three-team deal?
Anybody in the top five of the draft? We should talk about this since the draft is the soft deadline. I think we can rule out the Wizards, Jazz, Grizzlies and Clippers. But the Bulls at No. 4 might be able to get in the mix if they wanted to. I just can’t fathom the Bucks wanting to keep Giannis in the division.
82 and oh
The new addiction for basketball sickos
My group chats have been peppered with screenshots about this the last two days. This website, 82-0.com, is a little game in which you push a “spin” button, and then it comes up with a franchise and a decade to choose from. Then you have to fill out the traditional positions of point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward and center with each spin. The goal is to construct a team that goes 82-0, which is determined by some algorithm this website has.
It … is maddening. I became so frustrated by the “logic” of the engine determining fake records that I swore off making another starting five. The problem is, that pledge to quit was not met by my willpower. Quite the opposite. I kept going until a lineup of Luka Dončić (Mavericks in the 2020s), Michael Jordan (Bulls in the 1990s), Julius Erving (76ers in the 1970s), Chris Webber (Kings in the 1990s) and Bill Russell (Celtics in the 1960s) gave me my perfect record.
Some of the pitfalls of these options include landing the Kings in the 2020s or the New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets in the 1980s. Surprisingly, the Pistons don’t have a lot to offer outside of the 1980s and 1990s. You might be thinking to yourself, they won a title in 2004, so that can’t be. I don’t think this system respects defense or the Ben Wallace of it all. I think you just have to go off points per game to find perfect success.
This website will ruin your day. Maybe your week. It is going to frustrate you to no end. You will scream that the makers don’t know what they’re talking about. And you’ll probably keep spinning because it’s so addicting. In fact, I’ll do one more right now.
Lakers in the ‘20s? Luka at point guard. Warriors in the ‘10s? Steph Curry at shooting guard. Off to an amazing start. Nuggets in the ‘90s? Let’s put Dikembe Mutombo at center. Dallas in the 2000s? Have to go with Dirk Nowitzki at power forward. Last roll is Pistons in the ‘00s. Grant Hill is our small forward. What an unbeatable team!
Wait, how does this team go 70-12?! I hate this website.
Better spin it again …