SAN ANTONIO — Are the New York Knicks ever going to lose again?
They’d rather not think of it that way, preferring instead to focus on the three more wins they need for their first championship in 53 years.
Jalen Brunson shrugged off a poor shooting night and two lower-leg injuries to finish with 30 points, and the Knicks won Game 1 of the 2026 NBA Finals over the San Antonio Spurs, 105-95, Wednesday night at Frost Bank Center.
Victor Wembanyama, perhaps the NBA’s preeminent rising star, also had a tough shooting night and finished with 26 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks in the Spurs’ loss.
The series remains in San Antonio for Game 2 on Friday at 8:30 p.m. ET.
The Knicks have now won 12 consecutive playoff games. Since falling in Game 3 of the first round to the Atlanta Hawks on April 23, they’ve destroyed the Hawks, 76ers and Cavs in succession — and need just three more wins (by any means, they don’t need to be blowouts) to win the storied franchise’s third title and first since 1973.
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 10 of his 18 points in the third quarter and contributed 12 rebounds. OG Anunoby contributed 17 points, and Landry Shamet added 13 points off the bench. Mitchell Robinson (broken right pinky) gave the Knicks two points and six boards in 13 minutes — it was his first game since he underwent surgery to repair the break last week.
The first half was a tough one for Brunson, who suffered two separate injuries before halftime. He initially injured his right knee in the first quarter when San Antonio’s Harrison Barnes crashed into it. Brunson limped to the locker room but returned, only to step on Luke Kornet’s foot on a layup attempt in the second quarter, rolling his left ankle. He was writhing in pain and screaming at official Scott Foster for a foul call, but he didn’t get it.
Brunson finished shooting 12 of 31 from the field and 2 of 9 from 3-point range. His 3-ball inside of two minutes put the Knicks up, 97-95. It was a lead they never relinquished. Brunson’s tough fadeaway with about 38 seconds left put the Knicks ahead by six, and they drew an offensive foul on the next possession. Brunson and Anunoby combined for 25 points in the fourth quarter.
The Spurs, coming off the emotional high of upsetting defending-champion Oklahoma City in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals, blew a 14-point lead in the third quarter. They were led in scoring by Wembanyama, who shot 6 of 21 and was 12 of 13 from the foul line. Stephon Castle added 17 points, Julian Champagnie scored 16, and rookie Dylan Harper also scored 16 points, including 10 in the first quarter to become the first rookie to score that many points in an opening NBA Finals quarter since at least 1998.
The winner of this series will be the NBA’s eighth different champion in eight years — the league’s longest streak without repeat champions.
Here are our takeaways from Game 1 in San Antonio.
Jalen Brunson does it again
With the Knicks in a tightly contested Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Gotham’s blue-and-orange knight delivered another clutch performance to help his team win by scoring 13 of his 30 points in the final eight minutes.
Brunson hit 5 of 9 shots from the floor in the fourth quarter after going 7-for-22 in the first three quarters.
Brunson has made himself a legend in New York and the Knicks a relevant entity because of his routine, clutch scoring performances. He won the NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year award last season. In the Eastern Conference finals, Brunson helped the Knicks come back from down 22 in Game 1 by scoring 15 points in the final frame.
New York is going to have an advantage in the clutch in these playoffs because of Brunson’s ability to create off the dribble and score over most defenders. The Spurs don’t have that tool in their toolbox.
As long as the Knicks have Brunson, they’ll always be in the game. And it might lead to a championship. — James L. Edwards III, Knicks writer
The Spurs have a shooting problem
Everyone knew the Knicks had the advantage from deep coming into this series, but the Spurs couldn’t keep up even when New York had a terrible shooting night. The Knicks’ defense did a good job of disrupting San Antonio’s execution in the second half and knew how to manipulate the spacing in crunch time to get Brunson into his bag. Wembanyama had his moments in crunch time when he was able to force his way to the rim, but the Spurs’ guards could not figure out how to create consistent looks or spray the ball out to open shooters. The Spurs’ strength has been their variety, but their weakness is that they don’t have a go-to closer. Brunson is a closer, and he did that tonight. Wembanyama does not have his spots right now where he knows he can get a bucket, while Brunson proved he can get the spacing he needs and find his favorite shot.
New York’s defense is different from the Thunder’s, but it’s just as effective against the Spurs’ style of play right now. De’Aaron Fox and Castle will need to show they can take control in crunch time in this series because relying on Wembanyama to create the advantage on every play won’t be enough. The Knicks are just too tough, and Brunson is too inevitable. — Jared Weiss, Spurs writer
This is why you play Josh Hart
This is why, despite the foul trouble Hart had in the first half and despite his shoddy jumper, every coach who has ever had him has stuck with him. His greatest moments override whatever flaws he brings — just as they did in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, when he scored only three points yet helped the Knicks win their 12th consecutive playoff game. Hart shot just 1 of 5 from the field, and he sat at the end of the second quarter because of foul trouble. He still finished with 15 rebounds and six assists. He came up with multiple huge steals in crunch time. This is what Hart does. And it’s why the Knicks, no matter what, stick with him. — Fred Katz, senior NBA writer
It’s a make-or-miss league, and tonight the Spurs missed
In particular, they missed whenever they weren’t shooting from the corners. While San Antonio found some success with Champagnie in the corners, especially in the first half, the Spurs shot an abysmal 5-for-26 on above-the-break 3s, accounting for the lion’s share of their dismal 11-for-42 night from beyond the arc. While it was an equal-opportunity performance, it seems notable that starting guards Castle, Fox, and Devin Vassell combined to make none of their nine shots from that distance.
San Antonio missed all nine of its 3-point attempts as it frittered away a double-digit lead in the third quarter and added only two makes in the fourth. The Spurs can point to several reasons why they lost — Wembanyama needs to play better, the rebounding needs to improve, and the guards have to finish more plays in the paint — but a dose of more typical 3-point shooting might have flipped the scoreboard in their favor regardless. — John Hollinger, senior NBA writer
Wemby’s world
When it comes to Wembanyama, NBA commissioner Adam Silver is as amazed as the rest of us at the 22-year-old’s early ascent. Even with his Game 1 struggles (he finished with 26 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks, but was just 6 of 21 from the field and 2 of 9 from 3).
Yet, as Silver shared in his pregame news conference, it’s Wembanyama’s combination of basketball talent and business savvy that makes him an absolute wonder for the league in these early years. And after a recent era in which so many young stars have been reluctant to seize the spotlight, the French big man is only too pleased to take it.
“Players come along every once in a while who, in addition to having this incredible skill, love the promotional side of it and want to play that role for the league,” Silver said. “We saw the role he played at the All-Star Game in Los Angeles this season, even leading the other young players, saying, ‘Let’s take this seriously. This really matters.’
“He came in highly touted. He was somebody who, even before he came into the NBA, was blowing up the internet in terms of his highlights. Did I have a specific expectation for him in terms of the number of years it would take him to get to the finals? No. But I would say — trying to be an objective observer — that he’s ahead of any timeline that people had in mind.” — Sam Amick, senior NBA writer
