Jalen Brunson scored 13 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter, and the New York Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs 105-95 on Wednesday night to take Game 1 of the NBA Finals at Frost Bank Center. The Knicks lead the best-of-seven series 1-0.
Road teams have now won a Finals opener 20 times, and just eight of the previous 19 went on to win a title. The last two teams to steal Game 1 away from home were the 2022 Boston Celtics and the 2025 Indiana Pacers. Both lost their series, and the most recent team to win the opener on the road and go on to a championship was the 2004 Detroit Pistons.
Two guards offer the closest recent comparisons, and both came up short. Allen Iverson scored 48 vs. the Lakers in the 2001 opener, an overtime win that ended a 19-game Los Angeles streak, and Philadelphia lost the next four games. Tyrese Haliburton hit a game-winner at Oklahoma City to open last year’s Finals, and the Pacers lost in seven. Brunson’s night had nothing in common with Iverson’s 48, aside from the result. He shot 12-of-31, was 5-of-18 at one point, and made just 2-of-9 from 3-point range.
Most clutch points in the NBA Playoffs since 2023
Jalen Brunson – 144
SGA – 84
Nikola Jokić – 69
Jayson Tatum – 65“The trust they have in me, the trust I have in them, it’s got us to this point.” pic.twitter.com/1AtrnXMWBO https://t.co/0IdhXTZ7Ud
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) June 4, 2026
Brunson Burner
Brunson scored the Knicks’ last several points, including a 3-pointer over Devin Vassell inside the final two minutes. He had left briefly in the first quarter with a knee injury and tweaked an ankle later before returning.
“It was more of an instinct,” Brunson said of the shot. “I wasn’t trying to pre-determine what I was going to do. It was just something I read, and I just went with it.”
Knicks coach Mike Brown leaned on him down the stretch.
“He was the MVP in the second half,” Brown said. “He carried us home. We put the ball in his hands, and he got it done for us down the stretch.”
Brown called him a gamer who shows up in the biggest moments. The injuries didn’t appear to bother Brunson once he returned, the coach said, and he expects him to be ready Friday. It is the version of Brunson the Knicks have seen throughout this run, the one who can spend most of a night missing and still be the reason they win.
Knicks’ Confidence Never Wavered
New York trailed 55-48 at halftime and fell behind by 14 in the third quarter before drawing even at 76. Then it outscored San Antonio 29-19 in the fourth and closed on an 11-0 run. The win was the Knicks’ 12th in a row this postseason, a run only the 1999 Spurs and the 2015 Warriors had matched in a single playoff before them.
New York had rallied like this before, trailing by double digits in Game 1 of its conference-finals sweep of Cleveland before coming back. Brunson said the deficit on Wednesday didn’t change the approach.
“It’s a position we obviously don’t want to be in, but it’s always a next-play mentality,” Brunson said. “We have to control the things that we can control, and we just kept chipping away.”
How the Knicks Fought Back
San Antonio built its early lead in transition, scoring 25 fast-break points in the first half before the Knicks tightened up. The Spurs managed 9 fast-break points after halftime and scored 40 points in the second half. New York also cleaned up its own mistakes, committing eight turnovers in the first half and one in the second.
“Gave up way too many points in transition,” Landry Shamet said of the first half. “We’ve got to set the tone better early. We were fouling way too much early.”
Josh Hart finished with 15 rebounds, six assists, and four steals on a night he went 1-of-5 from the field and posted a game-best plus-22. Karl-Anthony Towns had 18 points and 12 rebounds, four of them on the offensive glass, and repeatedly attacked Victor Wembanyama inside. OG Anunoby scored 17, including 12 in the fourth quarter, and Shamet came off the bench for 13 on 3-of-6 shooting from 3-point range.
“Just my teammates finding me and being aggressive, ready to shoot,” Anunoby said of his fourth-quarter run.
New York controlled the paint, outscoring the Spurs there 50-42, and won the second-chance points 23-14. The Knicks also made San Antonio pay for its turnovers, scoring 19 points off 13 giveaways. San Antonio out-rebounded New York 54-49 overall and shot 25 free throws to the Knicks’ 18.
JB AND OG COMBINE FOR 25 OF NEW YORK’S 29 IN THE 4TH
Brunson: 13 PTS
Anunoby: 12 PTSThe Knicks take a 1-0 lead in the NBA Finals! pic.twitter.com/OIIb74bKfk
— NBA (@NBA) June 4, 2026
Wembanyama’s 26-Point Performance Wasn’t Enough
Victor Wembanyama finished with 26 points, 12 rebounds, and three blocks but shot 6-of-21 from the field, made 2-of-9 from 3-point range, and committed a team-high six turnovers. San Antonio made 11-of-43 from deep, a 25.6% night. Julian Champagnie carried the Spurs early, scoring 15 of his 16 points and making all five of his 3-pointers before halftime, and finished with 10 rebounds. Stephon Castle added 17 points and eight rebounds, and Dylan Harper scored 16 off the bench to become the youngest player in NBA history to reach double figures in a Finals game. De’Aaron Fox was held to seven points on 3-of-13 shooting.
“I’m gonna figure it out. I was bad tonight. It’s not more complicated than that.”
— Victor Wembanyama.
(h/t @ohnohedidnt24)
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) June 4, 2026
The Knicks brought a crowd with them. A visible contingent of New York fans filled stretches of Frost Bank Center, and Shamet said it was felt from the opening tip.
“Knicks fans have shown throughout the regular season and the playoffs that they are willing to travel,” Shamet said. “It’s a good feeling, knowing we’ve got some of ours in the building.”
The series is a rematch of the 1999 Finals, which San Antonio won in five games for the franchise’s first title and the last time New York reached this round. The Knicks have not won a championship since 1973. The Spurs got here with a Game 7 win over the defending champion Oklahoma City in the Western Conference finals, while the Knicks swept Cleveland in the East.
Game 2 is Friday night in San Antonio. For New York’s road win to mean what most Game 1 wins do, Brunson will likely have to close out another, and the Spurs are unlikely to shoot 25.6% from 3-point range again.
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