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San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) shoots over New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) during second half of Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Monday, June 8, 2026, in New York.<\/p>\n
Ross D. Franklin\/AP Photo\/Ross D. Franklin<\/p>\n
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) shoots as New York Knicks guard Josh Hart (3) and center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) defend during the second half of Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Monday, June 8, 2026, in New York.<\/p>\n
Yuki Iwamura\/AP Photo\/Yuki Iwamura<\/p>\n
New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) and guard Miles McBride (2) walk to their bench as San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson, left, looks away during second half of Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Monday, June 8, 2026, in New York.<\/p>\n
Ross D. Franklin\/AP Photo\/Ross D. Franklin<\/p>\n
New York Knicks guard Mikal Bridges (25) and San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle (5) chase down the lose ball during second half of Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Monday, June 8, 2026, in New York.<\/p>\n
Ross D. Franklin\/AP Photo\/Ross D. Franklin<\/p>\n
NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Last time the New York Knicks lost a game, they didn’t do it again for another month and a half.<\/p>\n
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When they fell behind against Atlanta in the first round of the NBA playoffs, desperation turned into domination. The Knicks won 13 straight games, many of them blowouts, in one of most impressive postseason stretches in NBA history.<\/p>\n
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They don’t need to do anything so dramatic now. With a 2-1 lead over the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals, a simple 2-2 record the rest of the season would give New York its first championship since 1973.<\/p>\n
So after dropping Game 3, the Knicks don’t need an overhaul. But they do need to be better.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a veteran group. Nobody is quote-unquote panicking or anything like that,\u201d Knicks coach Mike Brown said Tuesday. “Everybody is disappointed that we didn\u2019t go out and execute and play to what we feel our standard is. That\u2019s not taking anything away from San Antonio, but we feel like we can play a lot better than what we did.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re looking forward to going out on the floor and showing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Game 4 is Wednesday in a series in which the road team has won all three games, only the second time that’s happened in the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n
The Spurs jumped on the Knicks right at the start and then outplayed them late in their 115-111 victory on Monday. Victor Wembanyama controlled the action on both sides with 32 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three blocked shots.<\/p>\n
Showing no fear of a rowdy road environment in the first NBA Finals game in Madison Square Garden since 1999, just as they didn’t in winning a Game 7 on the road against defending champion Oklahoma City in the Western Conference finals, Wembanyama and the Spurs again looked like a team that might be able to win a title without first experiencing the growing teams that other young groups have.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will see. But my bet would be yes, it\u2019s possible,\u201d Wembanyama said.<\/p>\n
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The Spurs thought so even after dropping the two games in San Antonio, which means to win the title they would have to become the first team to do so after starting 0-2 in its own building. It’s a belief built from having one of the best players in the world and loads of talent around him, a group so confident that the players didn’t think much of their accomplishment Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t want us to get too happy about one win and get satisfied and take our foot off the gas a little bit for the next game,\u201d said guard Stephen Castle, who scored 23 points. \u201cBut I think since the end of Game 2 we\u2019ve still been confident that we\u2019re going to win this series, and that\u2019s what we plan to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Knicks’ first loss since April 23 didn’t send them scrambling for solutions, because they were constantly looking for ways to improve even when all they did was win.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach game, no matter what the situation is, we\u2019re growing as a team. I think we\u2019re learning and we\u2019re getting better \u2014 obviously before last night,\u201d Jalen Brunson said. \u201cNo matter what the situation is, we\u2019re going to stick together. We\u2019re going to execute, we\u2019re going to be better. That\u2019s just how our mindset has to be going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
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They are things to fix. Karl-Anthony Towns isn’t scoring in the fourth quarter. Wembanyama has clearly figured out ways to hurt the Knicks in the last 1 1\/2 games after struggling by his standards before that. They have to turn the ball over less and defend better without fouling \u2014 no matter what Brown thought of the officiating in Game 3.<\/p>\n
The Knicks did enough of those things well to run off the second-longest winning streak in postseason history. Now they have to recover quickly from a loss, or they’ll head to San Antonio for Game 5 with the series tied.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have, what, 13 games in a row, 50 days of film to show what it looks like when we\u2019re at our best. So we\u2019ve got good film,\u201d Towns said. \u201cWe\u2019ll get back to our fundamentals, what makes us great, what made us great, and get back to work” in Game 4.<\/p>\n
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