After being down 14 points in the second half, the New York Knicks mounted a massive comeback to steal Game 1 of the NBA Finals from the San Antonio Spurs.
Star guard Jalen Brunson battled a pair of injuries he sustained in the first half of the contest to lead the Knicks to a 105-95 victory in the first game of the championship series.
Following a sluggish start to the third quarter, the Knicks put together a run to claw back in the game and eventually take an eight-point lead – constituting a 22-point swing in the second half.
A four-minute Knicks scoring drought in the fourth quarter allowed the Spurs to erase that deficit before a clutch triple from Brunson iced the game for the Knicks and led to the ten-point win.
Spurs star Victor Wembanyama sparked a spirited attempt at a victory with clutch shots, but a late turnover and a missed triple from the Frenchman spoiled any hopes of winning.
A notable contingent of Knicks fans made the trip to Frost Bank Arena as New York logged its first victory in the NBA Finals since Game 3 of the 1999 championship series which, incidentally, was also against the Spurs.
Knicks star Jalen Brunson led New York to a win over the Spurs in Game 1 of the NBA Finals
A battered Brunson dropped 30 points to lead all scorers in the first game of the title series
Spurs star Victor Wembanyama led the team in scoring, but coughed up a late turnover and missed a 3-point attempt to seal a New York victory in San Antonio
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San Antonio’s relatively young team shot only 36 percent from the field, including a poor 26 percent from beyond the arc.
Brunson led the Knicks with 30 points on a night when he suffered a knee injury and an ankle injury in the first half. The knee injury, sustained after Spurs forward Harrison Barnes fell backwards into Brunson, forced the guard down the tunnel to be examined.
He eventually returned and dropped 13 points in the fourth quarter to help seal the win. After the game, Brunson said he was ‘fine’ after being checked by medical staff.
Knicks forward OG Anunoby scored 12 of his 17 points in the game’s final quarter. Josh Hart put up one of the more peculiar stat lines one could see in a basketball game as he only managed to score three points on a 1-for-5 shooting line, but chipped in with a game-high 15 rebounds along with six assists, four steals and a block.
New York big man Karl-Anthony Towns managed to get the better of Wembanyama for most of the evening with 18 points and 12 rebounds.
Wembanyama turned around his sluggish first half (nine points, two rebounds) to drop 17 points and ten rebounds in just the second half. However, his game-leading six turnovers proved costly.
Elsewhere for San Antonio, guard Stephon Castle managed a respectable 17 points, eight rebounds and three assists while Julian Champagnie led all players with five triples to score 16 points and ten rebounds. Off the bench, guard Dylan Harper shot an efficient 6-for-10 and put up 16 points and eight boards.
The Knicks will hope to steal another game in Texas when Game 2 of the Finals tips off on Friday evening.
