SAN ANTONIO — The Spurs are big favorites to win the NBA Finals, but observers thinking it will be an easy road are overlooking the fact that the New York Knicks beat San Antonio in the mid-December NBA Cup championship game.
The Knicks dominated the fourth quarter that night in Las Vegas and rallied for a 124-113 victory. Some Spurs have not forgotten as they enter Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday night in San Antonio.
“Obviously, it was a tough loss,” Spurs guard Stephon Castle said on Tuesday. “It wasn’t season-ending, so it doesn’t feel as bad as probably your season ending in the playoffs. Obviously, we wanted to win. I think just us as competitors, you want to win every single game.”
That marks one of eight New York victories in the past 12 meetings, including two of three this season, counting a split of the two regular-season meetings.
The Spurs are riding high after taking down the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in seven games in the Western Conference finals.
The Knicks have been wildly hot in the postseason with 11 consecutive victories, including a four-game sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals.
Still, New York is viewed as a team that has little chance of beating Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs.
“We’ve been doubted a lot,” New York star guard Jalen Brunson said Tuesday. “There’s been a lot of noise from the outside that we could talk about, complain about, do something about — but we’ve always gone back to the gym and worked on our game. We can’t be satisfied just because we’re here.”
Of course, the Knicks’ championship drought is well known. They are in the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999 — when they lost in five games to the Spurs — and are looking for their first NBA title since 1973 when guys like Walt Frazier, Willis Reed, Dave DeBusschere and Bill Bradley led the way.
In New York’s last Finals appearance in 1999, there was a Brunson on the roster. That’s Rick Brunson, father of Jalen and currently an assistant coach on the Knicks.
“It’s pretty surreal — it’s something I haven’t really thought about,” Jalen Brunson said of the 1999 angle. “Once the season’s over, once the career’s over, there will be times to think about this stuff. … It’s definitely a cool feeling.”
The Knicks made a deep run last season before losing to the Indiana Pacers in six games in the East finals. Tom Thibodeau was fired as coach in the aftermath and Mike Brown was hired as the new leader.
“Getting to the Finals is not easy,” Brown said. “If you can navigate through some of those adverse or tough times throughout the season, you’ll give yourself a chance when it really matters, which is the postseason.”
The Spurs are in the early stage of the “Wembanyama Era” and are part of the Finals for the first time since winning the crown in 2014, the franchise’s fifth title. Wembanyama has averaged 23.2 points, 10.8 rebounds and 3.5 blocked shots in 17 postseason games.
The 7-foot-4 Frenchman said the key is for the Spurs to put their epic series win over the Thunder behind them.
“Coming back down from this is a challenge,” Wembanyama said. “It’s not done yet. We still need to really come back down to earth and realize we haven’t done the hardest yet.
“The job isn’t done at all. So we still got about, I don’t know, what time is it, like 30-plus hours to re-center.”
Knicks big man Mitchell Robinson (broken right pinkie) is listed as questionable. Robinson wore a wrap on his hand Tuesday and did light shooting and dribbling at practice.
Robinson grabbed 15 rebounds in 18 minutes when New York won the NBA Cup matchup.
Spurs point guard De’Aaron Fox (right ankle) continues to improve and “is moving in a better direction,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. Fox missed the first two games of the Western Conference finals and was less than 100% the rest of the series, averaging just 11.2 points.
