The Bounce: The Spurs flip the vibes in the NBA Finals
The Bounce Newsletter 
| This is The Athletic’s daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox.
On this date in 1985, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored 29 points to help the Los Angeles Lakers close out the Boston Celtics in six games. Kareem finished the NBA Finals averaging 25.7 points, 9.0 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.5 blocks while shooting 60.4 percent from the field. It earned him a unanimous finals MVP, making him the oldest to do so at 38 years old. It’s one of the few records he still has over LeBron James … for now.
Vibe change
Wemby, Spurs figure out how to beat Knicks
bout an hour after the San Antonio Spurs beat the New York Knicks 115-111 in Game 3 of the NBA Finals last night, I exited Madison Square Garden to write this newsletter. Because of the attendance of President Trump, the streets that surround “the world’s most famous arena” were basically empty. They were barricaded, with hundreds of police keeping the area around MSG completely free of Knicks fans and people in the city.
It was a very different vibe than what everybody in New York City has experienced over the last month. The Knicks had won 13 straight playoff games. They had two different stretches during the postseason with more than a week of rest. The Knicks were historic in every way. And they still might end up being that. They still lead the finals 2-1, but everything was off last night. No win. No streets flooded with Knicks fans. No celebrating.
The fans were exasperated with the police presence. They were furious with the officiating. And for the first time in a really long time — since April 23, to be exact — they were coping with what a loss feels like.
The Knicks had a moment in the second quarter when it felt like they’d push the win streak to 14 games. They outscored the Spurs 42-24 in the quarter, once again fueled by OG Anunoby and Jalen Brunson.
Instead of a full-on collapse, the Spurs showed some poise and figured out how to play through that rough patch. They turned the Knicks into a team settling for jumpers and hesitating on when to shoot them. They also forced the issue to get to the free-throw line (24-8 on attempts in the second half for San Antonio), and had the Knicks focusing on the officials. This led to a lot of impromptu chants by MSG that were less than flattering toward the officials and some of the Spurs players.
The officiating will be the story of this game, and maybe it should be part of the discussion. It wasn’t a well-officiated game, but I’m not sure how one-sided it was. It just felt inconsistent throughout the night. The Knicks lost because they didn’t execute down the stretch on both ends of the floor. They didn’t match the desperation of the Spurs in the biggest stretches of the game outside of that second-quarter dominance.
Victor Wembanyama was awesome, finishing with 32 points, eight rebounds, six assists, two steals, three blocks and one turnover. He finally figured out how to both attack and defend Karl-Anthony Towns, who took a step back. But the key help came from Stephon Castle. He struggled so much in Game 2, but came up huge with 23 points, five rebounds and five assists. He also knocked down two clutch free throws to put the game out of reach in the final seconds.
Game 4 is the Knicks’ chance to get back to normalcy, or at least the normalcy they created during this win streak. I’m not sure that will happen inside MSG with the crowd. It was loud. It was lively. But I saw many people complaining that it felt too corporate with the exorbitant ticket prices for Game 3. Game 4 is supposed to be even costlier to get in, with fans having anticipated the Knicks sweeping before the Game 3 loss.
Local news in New York talked about Wall Street buying up many of those expensive tickets to use as networking opportunities. If that’s the case, then I’d expect the same energy in the building. Loud because you’re supposed to be instead of loud because you need to be. But maybe the crowd and energy outside of MSG will return to give the karmic boost?
Playoff Panic Meter: 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨 for San Antonio. History still has them down big.
When is Game 6? Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
The last 24
🏀 Instrinsically motivated. The Thunder are not looking to move Chet Holmgren. They still believe in him.
🤝 Congratulations! The Raptors are very happy with executive Bobby Webster. They gave him an extension and a new title.
🏀 New threads. Timberwolves co-owners Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore said team officials listened to the fans when they designed Minnesota’s new retro look.
🏀 The Pearl. Earl Monroe was a big part of the Knicks’ championship team. He gave everything he had, especially his body.
🔊 “NBA Daily.” Watch and listen to a breakdown of last night’s Game 3.
Stream the NBA on Fubo (try it for free!) and catch out-of-market games on League Pass.
Say what?
Thunder GM offers a curious take
The best executive in the NBA is Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti. It’s not even close. Nobody is running things the way he is. He has an elite roster with one of the best players in the world and enough future draft picks from other teams to be in play for literally any superstar who becomes available on the trade market.
Every year, Presti does a big sit-down with the media following the conclusion of the Thunder’s season. He did that yesterday, and while he said lots of interesting stuff about roster construction and what is ahead for the Thunder with the luxury-tax second apron, something else caught my attention. It was a comment he made about Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning back-to-back MVP.
“He’s playing against six people. He’s got five defenders, and the sixth defender is social media. That’s a reality. He’s not going to be the last player that the machine decides to target, but no one’s going to handle it as gracefully, because when they turn it on somebody else, they’re not going to step up there every night and not acknowledge it.”
I can’t even begin to tell you how befuddled I was that Presti said this. The idea seemed so foreign and unlikely. It stems from the constant complaints about SGA flopping and exaggerating contact to get to the free-throw line. There are people outside the Thunder fan base who battle against it, but it’s a constant issue during OKC games.
My read on the situation? I would guess this is something that bothers SGA a considerable amount, and Presti has decided to take up for it. It’s the only logical explanation that makes sense to me.
He also added complaints about coaches voicing their displeasure with the officiating in Thunder games. But coaches complaining about officials has been going on since they put microphones in front of the coaches.
I’m still taken aback that Presti would deliver this message to bring more attention to it. Maybe it’s of his own volition, but he doesn’t seem to be much of a social media guy.
Draft SZN
Choose your point guard
The first round of the 2026 NBA Draft is two weeks from today, and while we still don’t know if the Washington Wizards are taking BYU’s AJ Dybantsa, Kansas’ Darryn Peterson or Duke’s Cameron Boozer with the first pick, we have a pretty good idea that those players will be selected in the top three. Then maybe the Chicago Bulls grab North Carolina’s Caleb Wilson at No. 4.
From there? As our expert Sam Vecenie points out in his latest mock draft, it will be time for teams to figure out their future lead guard situations.
The biggest names to battle it out for the fifth pick and beyond are Arkansas’ Darius Acuff Jr., Illinois’ Keaton Wagler and Houston’s Kingston Flemings. All three are prime prospects expected to make an immediate impact in the NBA. But which player should you choose? Let’s break it down!
Let’s do stats:
- Flemings: 16.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 1.5 steals, 1.8 turnovers, 47.6/38.7/84.5 shooting splits, 56.3 true-shooting percentage, 31.7 minutes, 37 games
- Wagler: 17.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 0.9 steals, 1.8 turnovers, 44.5/39.7/79.6 shooting splits, 59.6 TS percent, 33.9 minutes, 37 games
- Acuff: 23.5 points, 3.1 rebounds, 6.4 assists, 0.8 steals, 2.2 turnovers, 48.4/44.0/80.9 shooting splits, 60.4 TS percent, 35.1 minutes, 36 games
Acuff is the most efficient scorer and has the best assist-to-turnover ratio of the trio. A lot of people compare his game to a Damian Lillard-type of lead guard. Flemings has been likened to a Ja Morant-type of explosive point guard but with a reliable jump shot. Wagler is a bigger guard than both, and his shooting plus size definitely has front offices intrigued.
Let’s do measurables:
- Flemings: Height: 6 feet 2.5 (without shoes) | Wingspan: 6-3.5 | Vertical: 40.5 inches | Shuttle: 2.69 seconds | Three-quarter sprint: 3.07 seconds
- Wagler: Height: 6-5 | Wingspan: 6-6.25 | Vertical: 36 inches | Shuttle: 3.0 seconds | Three-quarter sprint: 3.27 seconds
- Acuff: Height: 6-2 | Wingspan: 6-6.5 | Vertical: 36.5 inches | Shuttle: 2.93 seconds | Three-quarter sprint: 3.06 seconds
A couple of things stand out. Acuff was the fastest in the open-court sprint, slightly edging out Flemings. But Flemings was quicker in the shuttle agility test. Flemings had the best vertical, by far, but he’s also the smallest guard when you factor in wingspan. Acuff having a slightly bigger wingspan than the much taller Wagler makes it seem like he could compete on defense, in theory.
Let’s do team needs:
- Bulls, fourth pick: Everything, but Wilson appears to be the pick.
- Clippers, fifth pick: Wings and a center.
- Nets, sixth pick: Everything. They had five first-round picks a year ago and didn’t do well.
- Kings, seventh pick: They need everything, because nearly every veteran must go.
Most likely, these three guards will fill out the fifth through seventh spots in the draft. They could have the biggest impact of everybody left. Vecenie has Wagler going to the Clippers. I’m not sure he’s the best guard of the bunch, but his size next to Darius Garland makes a lot more sense. Then Sam has the Nets going with Acuff (if they don’t move down), which leaves Sacramento with Flemings.
I think Acuff is the best of those three. I think he should go higher than No. 5 and should be regarded as a massive prospect who’s much closer to the top three guys. But a lot can change between now and June 23.
Make sure to check out Vecenie’s latest mock draft with all the intel.