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The home team in the NBA Finals remained winless in their building, as the San Antonio Spurs took Game 3, 115-11, in much-needed fashion on Monday night at Madison Square Garden.
New York still owns the lead, 2-1, in the series, but the Spurs closed out thanks to tremendous defense, timely buckets, and forcing the Knicks to go 2-of-12 from three-point territory in the fourth quarter. As a result, the Knicks’ 13-game playoff win streak has been snapped.
Victor Wembanyama, who had a chance to win Game 2 but missed his final shot, finished with 32 points, eight rebounds and six assists to lead the Spurs.
But it was Wembanyama’s teammates, De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle putting in clutch baskets, to help the winning efforts.
The Spurs came out with a clear determination to set the tone on the road, and it’s what all basketball fans should’ve expected considering where the series stood at tip-off. San Antonio owned an 11-point lead after the first quarter, as Wembanyama scored nine points on 4-of-6 shooting, while Castle was a perfect 3-of-3 for seven points.
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But if there’s anything we’ve learned about the Knicks, they will mount a comeback no matter the deficit. And it happened again before the end of the half.
New York started to get their rhythm, using the sold-out home crowd at Madison Square Garden to their advantage. They closed out the half with a seven-point lead, 64-57, as OG Anunoby dropped 17 points on 5-of-6 shooting, including two made threes and five free throws made.
Jalen Brunson also poured in 15 points, while Josh Hart, left wide open on purpose by the Spurs, was hitting his three pointers for 13 points.
The Knicks had all the momentum heading into the second half, but the Spurs started similarly to the beginning of this game. They forced turnovers and capitalized, erasing their seven-point deficit almost immediately.
Both teams traded buckets, with San Antonio taking a one-point lead into the fourth quarter that was bound to be a heavyweight bout at “The Mecca.”
This time, though, the Spurs were finally able to hang on to their fourth-quarter lead, as the Knicks quickly got into foul trouble and allowed San Antonio to get into the bonus right away. It was Wembanyama taking advantage of those, while the Knicks were cold to start the quarter.
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San Antonio got the lead up to eight in the fourth quarter with 4:50 left to play after Wembanyama knocked in two more free throws, and that was leading to some key defensive plays for the Spurs. The epitome of that was the Knicks trying to move the ball around for a three-point attempt, swinging it along the arc. But the Spurs continued to close out, all to end with Wembanyama swatting away Landry Shamet’s layup attempt.
The first clutch basket that the Spurs hit came from Castle with 1:53 left in the fourth quarter. San Antonio owned just a four-point lead and Wembanyama past the ball up with mere seconds left on the shot clock. With a good contest from the Knicks in Castle’s face, he buried a deep three-point on the wing to get the lead back to seven in a moment where the Knicks had momentum.
Then, after Brunson drained the Knicks’ first three-pointer of the quarter to cut the deficit to three, Fox drained a 15-foot stepback jumper that seemed like a dagger with 12.2 left in the game.
Anunoby, who finished with 28 points on 9-of-12 shooting, kept the Knicks’ hopes alive with a three of his own following a timeout to cut it to two with 9.4 left. But Castle buried both free throws in a much-needed situation to close the door on New York.
In the end, Castle finished with 23 point of 8-of-14 shooting with five rebounds and five assists, while every Spurs starter finished the game with double-digit points. Dylan Harper, who has played tremendous bench minutes for San Antonio, also scored 13 on 18 shot attempts.
For the Knicks, one stat line that stands out is Shamet’s 1-of-8 from the field, including 1-of-7 from three-point land where he has thrived all throughout these playoffs.
The Spurs pulled off the win with President Donald Trump in attendance. He was seated with Knicks owner James Dolan in a suite. The president’s presence led to heightened security around the arena throughout the afternoon and into the evening.
Game 4 of the NBA Finals will tip off from Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night at 8:30 p.m. ET.
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