SAN ANTONIO — The New York Knicks‘ winning streak lives on, and they struck first in the NBA Finals.
Jalen Brunson scored 30 points, Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds, and the Knicks erased a 14-point second-half deficit to beat the San Antonio Spurs 105-95 in Game 1 of the Finals on Wednesday night.
OG Anunoby had 17 points for New York, which has won 12 consecutive playoff games, tying the second-longest streak in a single postseason in NBA history. The 1999 Spurs won 12 straight and the 2017 Warriors won their first 15 games of the postseason, with both teams going on to win the title.
“I think we know what we have to do,” Brunson said. “I think we’re a pretty together group.”
Brunson scored 13 points in the fourth, only six fewer than San Antonio managed as a team in that quarter, and sealed it with a spinning jumper while falling to the court with 38 seconds left.
“He’s a gamer, man,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “In the biggest moments, he shows up. That’s what MVPs are supposed to do.”
The Knicks, who finished on an 11-0 run, made a little more history. They became the first team to beat San Antonio in a Game 1 of the title series — the Spurs were 6-0 in those. This is also the first time the Spurs have ever trailed a Finals before the finish.
Victor Wembanyama had 26 points and 12 rebounds for the Spurs, but he shot 6-for-21 from the field in his Finals debut. Stephon Castle scored 17, and Julian Champagnie and Dylan Harper each had 16 for the Spurs.
“I was bad tonight,” Wembanyama said. “It’s not more complicated than that.”
Game 2 is Friday in San Antonio.
Former San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich was at the game, as he has been for every Finals game in Spurs history, albeit watching from a suite and not stomping the San Antonio sideline. The Spurs legends — David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Bruce Bowen and more — were there, too.
So were Knicks great Patrick Ewing and the world’s most recognizable New York fans: Spike Lee, Tracy Morgan, Ben Stiller, Fat Joe, Timothée Chalamet and more. Plenty of non-celeb Knicks fans made the trip as well. Tommy Sherlock, an auto sales manager from Brooklyn, said it cost less for two Game 1 tickets in San Antonio, with hotel and airfare, than Game 3 tickets in New York would have set him back.
“First-class air, too,” Sherlock said. “By a lot.”
The Knicks led 14-7 early, the Spurs answered with a 20-13 run to go up by 10, the Knicks rallied and the second quarter saw six lead changes before San Antonio took a 55-48 lead into the break.
San Antonio pushed the lead to 14 midway through the third quarter before the Knicks stormed back, finishing the period on a 22-9 run and sending the game into the fourth tied at 76.
New York’s lead was eight midway through the final period. Wembanyama made a pair of free throws with 2:16 left to put San Antonio up 95-94, but Brunson made a corner 3 on the next possession to put the Knicks on top for good.
“I think we let that one go,” Wembanyama said.
New York has won seven straight road playoff games by double digits, extending the longest such streak in playoff history.
San Antonio’s run of never trailing the Finals had some close calls over the years. The Spurs were tied twice with New Jersey in the 2003 Finals, tied with Detroit twice in 2005, tied with Miami three times in 2013 — they lost that series in seven games, so they trailed only when it was over — and then were tied with the Heat once more in 2014.
It’s only 1-0. But the Knicks are only three wins away from their first title in 53 years, and they just took home-court advantage away from San Antonio.
“We have a long way to go,” Brunson said.
The Associated Press and ESPN Research contributed to this report.
