New York Knicks vs San Antonio Spurs live updates: Score, highlights, stats analysis from NBA Finals Game 1

What players said at media day

Here are a few highlights of what the players said on Tuesday at Media Day for the NBA Finals. It’s worth noting that both teams were very complementary and respectful of their opponents, no trash talking. Yet.

Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama on hangover from Western Conference Finals Game 7: “Coming back down from this is a challenge. 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 recenter.”

Knicks’ Landry Shamet on Karl Anthony-Towns: “I think he’s lived through a number of different seasons within the season this year, where we’ve asked him to do some different things… KAT has been kind of coming into that role. When we got into the Playoffs, he’s been a fantastic facilitator, playmaker at the top of the floor for us. Been really aggressive offensively, as well. Been asked to defend at a high level, and he’s done that.”

Knicks’ Karl-Anthony Towns on what it means to help the Knicks return to the Finals: “It means a lot for my mother. When she emigrated from [the Dominican Republic] to New York, she saw Madison Square Garden for the first time and saw the energy the city has for Madison Square Garden and the Knicks. My mom, even to the day she passed, wasn’t big on the NBA rules, but one thing she did know was that only the best of the best perform and play at Madison Square Garden. To be able to have this moment in Knicks history where we’re back here, where New York has been hungry to be back in this Finals, it means a lot.”

Spurs’ Devin Vassell on the Knicks beating them twice during the season: “We feel like the Knicks have played us really well this year. We went into their house and they beat us. They beat us in the in-season tournament. They beat us last year on Christmas. We feel like we’ve got to get some get-back because they’ve been successful against us.”