A basketball fans perspective

NBA Finals Edition

As you may have noticed, the NBA playoffs have not matched the publishing schedule of Off the Dribble. I plan to address that by releasing a next-day edition when needed, regardless of the usual schedule. If a Finals game falls on a regular publishing day, I’ll cover it then; if the timing does not line up, as it did with Game 1, I’ll still report on the previous night’s action. With that explanation, let’s move on to Game 1 of the Finals: the New York Knicks vs. the San Antonio Spurs.

There are two half’s of a game, the Spurs discovered that fact last night. The Knicks started the game on fire, early on the Spurs were missing shots. Then a switch as the Spurs raced out 9-0, thanks primarily to Spurs guard Dylan Harper. Then things settled down for both teams, missed shots, turnovers, the middle of the second saw both teams shooting in the 30% range. In the middle of the second quarter Knicks guard Jalen Brunson went out with an injury and Jose Alvarado came in and played valued minutes in place of him. Julian Champagnie for the Spurs hit a three which gave the Spurs a 55-47 halftime lead thanks in part to the 15 points he scored in the first half. The second half of the game belonged almost exclusively to the Knicks, they shot better, took better care of the basketball. The 105-95 road victory became their 12 consecutive win.

The box score provides us the indication why the Knicks won, they managed to increase their team scoring to 41% led by Jalen Brunson who scored 30 points despite his injury. KAT was a monster scoring 18 points along with 12 rebounds, right behind him was OG Anunoby with 17 points. As for the Spurs Wemby had an untypical game, he led the Spurs with 26 points but was only 29% shooting from the floor. He did managed 12 rebounds and 3 blocked shots but committed 6 TO’s. This might have been the Spurs worst shooting game (36%) but they did outrebound the Knicks. Dylan Harper emerged from the bench and had his usual good outing for the Spurs. So the Knicks have taken the lead and accomplished the task of at least gaining a split by winning the first game. The celebration win is over as soon as the clock read 0.00, it's now time for the Knicks and Spurs to prepare for Game Two on Friday evening in San Antonio. I find one fact interesting, ESPN account "Knicks steal Game One," they didn't steal anything they won the game.