Two series. Two incredible stories. And an NBA Finals matchup that nobody saw coming at the start of the playoffs.
The New York Knicks are going to the Finals for the first time since 1999. The San Antonio Spurs are going with them, surviving a Game 7 on the road to end OKC's season and send Victor Wembanyama to the biggest stage in basketball. Game 1 is Wednesday, June 3 in San Antonio.
New York Knicks Sweep Cleveland Cavaliers
The Knicks came into this week up 2-0 and did not let up for a single possession.
Game 3 in Cleveland was the most complete performance of New York's postseason run. They never trailed, not once, in a 121-108 win that sent a clear message to the rest of the basketball world. Jalen Brunson had 30 points and ran the offense with the kind of composure that makes him impossible to rattle. Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby combined for 43 points on 17-for-25 shooting. Cleveland had no answers.
Game 4 was an execution. The Knicks walked into Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse and dismantled the Cavaliers 130-93, closing out the series by halftime and celebrating in Cleveland. Karl-Anthony Towns had 19 points and 14 rebounds. Anunoby scored 17. Brunson and Bridges each added 15. Landry Shamet came off the bench for 16. It was a team effort from start to finish, and that has been the story of this entire run.
Brunson was named Eastern Conference Finals MVP after averaging 25.5 points and 7.8 assists across the four games. But the number that really tells the story of this Knicks team is the one that spans the entire run: 11 consecutive wins and a point differential of plus-262. That is not a hot streak. That is a team operating at a completely different level than everyone around it.
The last time the Knicks went to the Finals, Patrick Ewing was still suiting up and Latrell Sprewell was a household name. That was 1999. A lot has changed since then. But the moment Knicks fans have been waiting for is finally here.
San Antonio Spurs Survive Game 7 in OKC
If the Knicks' path was a statement, the Spurs' was a survival story, and the more compelling one for it.
San Antonio came into this week trailing 2-3 after a brutal Game 5 loss in which OKC looked like a team that had figured everything out. The Spurs answered with one of the most dominant performances of the entire playoff field. Game 6 was a 118-91 demolition in San Antonio that was not as close as the score suggests. Wembanyama was a force on both ends, the crowd was electric, and OKC looked like a team that had used everything it had.
Then came Game 7 in Oklahoma City, on the road, against the number one seed, with everything on the line.
The Thunder threw everything at them. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was brilliant, finishing with 35 points and refusing to let OKC die. But every time SGA pulled the Thunder close, the Spurs had an answer. Julian Champagnie was remarkable, scoring 20 points and knocking down six three-pointers in a building that was rocking. Wembanyama added 22 points and six threes of his own. Stephon Castle had 16. De'Aaron Fox chipped in 15.
The defining stretch came late, when San Antonio made the extra winning plays and kept Oklahoma City from flipping the game. Final: Spurs 111, Thunder 103. San Antonio is going to the NBA Finals.
For OKC, the loss stings, but it should not define this team. Gilgeous-Alexander is 27. The core is young. They will be back. But tonight belonged to the Spurs and to Wembanyama, who was asked to win a road Game 7 in his third NBA season and delivered.
NBA Finals: Knicks vs. Spurs
A matchup two decades in the making, sort of.
The New York Knicks, on their first Finals trip since 1999, against the San Antonio Spurs, the franchise that defines Finals excellence in the modern era. Five championships, four different decades, and now Wembanyama carrying the torch into a new one.
The Spurs have home-court advantage. Game 1 is Wednesday, June 3 in San Antonio at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
We will have our full Finals preview up before tip-off. This one is worth getting excited about.