A basketball fans perspective

The Finals   

At the end of the evening all were treated to a meltdown of epic proportions, final score Knicks 107 Spurs 106. These youthful Spurs got off to a swift start shooting lights out creating havoc all over the court for the home team. The Knicks looked totally lost as the Spurs ran around and over the top of them. It didn’t help that KAT got in early foul trouble and was in and out of the lineup. At the end of the first quarter the Spurs were shooting 65% from the floor with 100% from three, as for the Knicks it was 29% and 40% from three.

The first quarter ended with the Spurs holding a 41-22 advantage on the score board, Wemby with 13 and Vassell with 12 points led the way. For the Knicks it was Anunoby with 7 and Bridges 5 points, they played slightly better in the 2nd quarter however half-time saw them trailing 76-49. In addition to the hot shooting the Spurs took care of the ball having only 2 TOs for the half. I’m unsure what Mike Brown said to his Knicks at the half but they returned to the court with fire in their eyes playing much better, at one point they made a 10-0 run. At the beginning of the 4th quarter the Spurs still held a 90-75 lead and the thought was that even if the Spurs score every other time down they should cruise to victory. That was not quite the case as the Knicks began playing inspired basketball, the Spurs were either missing shots or making TOs. It was difficult to believe the Spurs had a 29 point lead as they slowly but surely came apart and began playing poorly. The Spurs as hot as the Sun could only score 14 points in the 3rd quarter and the critical 4th it was 16. The Knicks scored 26 and 32 which allowed them to successfully compete and thus win the game.

The Knicks take a commanding 3 games to 1 lead and journey to San Antonio for Game 5 on Saturday night. The Spurs committed a number of bad plays down the stretch (TOs and poor shot selection). As for the shooting discrepancy the Knicks finished the night outshooting the Spurs from the floor and the three line. These young Spurs must learn to play the second half of championship games. Brunson, Anunoby and even KAT despite his foul problems were key to the victory for the Knicks.