The New York Knicks opened the 2026 NBA Finals with a gritty 105-95 victory over the San Antonio Spurs at the Frost Bank Center on Wednesday, extending their playoff winning streak to twelve games and becoming only the seventh team in league history to reach that mark. The win did not come easily, star guard Jalen Brunson hobbled off the court twice after separate incidents involving Harrison Barnes and Luke Kornet, briefly raising fears that the Knicks’ championship hopes might unravel before the series had truly begun. Yet Brunson returned both times, finishing with a game high 30 points on 12 of 31 shooting, and led an 11-0 closing run that silenced a raucous San Antonio crowd featuring celebrity superfans Timothée Chalamet, Ben Stiller, and Tracy Morgan.
The game was a back and forth affair from the opening tip. New York jumped to a 12-7 lead before Spurs rookie Dylan Harper Jr. came off the bench and sparked a 20-5 run to end the first quarter, putting San Antonio firmly in control. Concern mounted when Brunson limped to the locker room after Barnes fell into his right knee, but the three time All Star reappeared on the bench midway through the second quarter and checked back in to help cut the Spurs’ lead to three. The injury bug struck again when Kornet stepped on Brunson’s ankle, yet the Knicks captain responded with eight straight points before halftime, though San Antonio still carried a seven point advantage into the break. The third quarter looked dire for New York, the Knicks managed only two points in the first five minutes, and the Spurs’ lead ballooned to fourteen. The turning point came when Victor Wembanyama, the 22 year old French phenom, headed to the bench with a slight limp. Karl Anthony Towns capitalized on the opening, slicing the deficit to three, and the quarter ended deadlocked at 76-76.
The final period was a shot for shot duel until Brunson took over, building a six point lead at the halfway mark and then clamping down defensively to close the game on that decisive 11-0 run. Wembanyama finished with 26 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 blocks, solid numbers by any standard but an unusually quiet night by his own lofty benchmarks. After the game, the Spurs center downplayed any concern. “It’s almost not like I have anything to figure out,” he said. “When we play bad, when I play bad, is when we shoot ourselves in the foot. This is why I’m not worried. We’re going to be so much better. I’m going to be so much better.” Brunson, for his part, brushed off questions about his injuries with characteristic brevity: “I’ll be all right.”
For the Knicks, the victory validates a postseason run that has seen them defy injuries and sceptics alike. For the Spurs, the loss is a reminder that even generational talents like Wembanyama cannot overcome self inflicted wounds against a team as battle tested as New York. Game 1 may have been a preview of a long, bruising series, one in which the margin between championship glory and heartbreak could come down to which star stays healthiest, and which team stops shooting itself in the foot.
