Key events
End 1st quarter: Spurs 41-20 Knicks
Yes – that’s 41 points.
The dubious call to give Towns his second foul certainly rattled the Knicks, but to give the Spurs credit, they’ve been spectacular on offense. They’re shooting 65% from the field, including 6-of-10 3-point attempts.
And Wemby is fast becoming a national villain. The 2027 World Cup and 2028 Olympics should be interesting.
Spurs 39-20 Knicks, 0:41, 1st qtr: The Knicks scramble to get an open look, and Miles McBride gets it. He misses badly.
Wemby takes the ball at the top of the arc, then drives and pivots past Robinson. As they travel to the other end of the court, Wemby trash-talks in his ear. Robinson puts a forearm up near Wemby’s neck. You can only do that if you’re Wemby, not if you’re fouling Wemby. Officials review it and upgrade it to a flagrant foul. Spike Lee looks extremely unhappy.
Jeremy Sochan now gets the task of guarding Wemby.
Spurs 35-20 Knicks, 1:50, 1st qtr: Towns is back in, and he hits the single free throw after the Spurs are called for a defensive three-seconds infraction.
To even things out, the Knicks commit their own defensive three-seconds infraction.
Spurs 32-19 Knicks, 2:44, 1st qtr: Mitchell Robinson goes to the free throw line, which is always an adventure. He puts up two line drives that clank off the iron.
Kornet blatantly goaltends. No whistle. Wemby gets away with a possible offensive goaltending. The officiating in this first quarter has been diabolical. And as is so often the case, the team getting the better of the calls is also playing out of their minds.
New York fans are making their displeasure known, which may account for some the glitches in the audio.
Spurs 30-17 Knicks, 4:00, 1st qtr: Wemby decides to clear everyone out and shoot again from long range, but he misses this one. He gets a block at the other end and Keldon Johnson gets a layup, but the Spurs lose track of Mikal Bridges, who puts up a 3.
Wemby will take a break. Luke Kornet is in.
And De’Aaron Fox makes a 3. The Spurs have made six of eight 3-point attempts.
Bryan Armen Graham
In less than three minutes, Madison Square Garden has gone from a powder keg of noise and anticipation to a building crackling with nervous energy as the Spurs race to an early 12-2 lead. Karl-Anthony Towns picked up two early fouls, including one overturned on a successful Spurs challenge, and is already headed to the bench.
Seated at courtside for tonight’s game, as you might have overheard, is the recording artist Taylor Swift alongside close friends Alana and Este Haim. The Knicks celebrity cam puts Swift on the jumbotron during the break, ignoring the Haims entirely. Justice for the Haims!
Spurs 25-12 Knicks, 5:37, 1st qtr: And the Knicks fall back into terrible offensive movement. Or lack thereof. Bridges gets stuck with the ball in the middle of the lane, can’t find a passing option, and has to launch an off-balance shot.
Meanwhile, the Spurs can’t miss. Castle hits a 3. Vassell hits a 3.
Third-string Knicks center Ariel Hukporti enters for the winded Mitchell Robinson.
And Wemby hits a 3.
Spurs 14-10 Knicks, 7:51, 1st qtr: The Knicks are fighting back. After a good defensive stop, Josh Hart drives against Champagnie and converts both the layup and the free throw.
Spurs 12-5 Knicks, 8:38, 1st qtr: In any case – the Knicks have completely lost composure. They can’t hit any- …
Anunoby hits a 3.
I have great sympathy for referees because I do it myself. If I can’t see fouls clearly when keeping an eye on 11-year-old soccer players, then I can understand how referees can miss something in the chaos of 10 large athletes scrapping for possession of a basketball.
But I’m astounded how often referees look at a replay and make calls that are … idiosyncratic? Every now and then, especially in soccer, there’s a logical explanation that commentators miss because soccer commentators generally don’t keep up with changes to the Laws to the Game, and IFAB literally changes the Laws every year. But the reversal to put the foul on Towns rather than Wemby is not a rule change. It’s just looking at a blue dress and seeing a black dress, or whatever the viral image was.
Spurs 12-2 Knicks, 9:16, 1st qtr: Vassell hits another 3. Champagnie steals a pass from Josh Hart and drives for the breakaway dunk. That’ll teach the PA announcer to pause when reading off the lineup.
Mitchell Robinson replaces Towns, who is now charged with his second foul.
I don’t get it in the least. Wemby is claiming Towns pulled his arm. Towns and about 99% of the USA would see it as Wemby grabbing Towns and not letting go.
The call is overturned. I await an explanation.
Spurs 5-2 Knicks, 10:55, 1st qtr: Definitely not what the Knicks wanted at the outset – a foul on Karl-Anthony Towns, the big man who battled Wemby to a standstill in the first two games of the series. De’Aaron Fox hits both free throws.
Towns hits a nice floater at the other end to equalize. Darius Vassell smoothly hits a 3-pointer to restore the Spurs lead.
And now we have a talking point. Wemby mauls Towns as his nemesis drives to the hoop. Foul Wemby, right? Well, we’re getting a challenge.
Spurs 0-0 Knicks, 11:59, 1st qtr: After Taylor Swift blows a kiss to the camera, we have tipoff. Referee Zach Zarba is in his 23rd season. Spurs win the tip.
I’m a connoisseur of pregame hype videos, and I missed Game 3, so I’m interested in seeing what happens here.
The announcer paused when announcing Julian Champagnie in the Spurs’ starting lineup, as if trying to remember who he was.
Looks like the theme is to mix game highlights with images of Knicks players being as tall as buildings in Manhattan. It’s not bad, but someone should really tell pregame producers that just because you can do something with your video editing software doesn’t mean you should.
Performing at halftime: Wu-Tang Clan.
We have a correct answer on the trivia quiz from Neon Thotsky at Bluesky, who illustrates the point with a dramatic photo.
In mere words: Cleveland Cavaliers over Golden State Warriors, 2016. That was the Cleveland team with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving co-existing while Kevin Love gathered rebounds.
Have we ever seen a year with so many close games in both the NBA and NHL finals?
Last year, four of the seven games were decided by double digits. The year before that, the Celtics won three games in resounding fashion, lost Game 4 by 38 points, then won Game 5 by 18.
This year, the 10-point margin in Game 1 is deceptive. The Knicks barely eked out the lead late and then padded the margin in the last minute. Game 2 came down to a potential buzzer-beater that missed. Game 3 was still in doubt in the final seconds.
Over in the NHL, the first three games were decided by one goal, two of them in overtime. Last night, Jordan Staal’s belly-flop backhand put the Hurricanes up by one with 6:32 left, and Carolina didn’t put the game away until getting an empty-netter with 55 seconds left.
Trivia quiz …
How many teams have faced a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals and gone on to win?
How am I supposed to follow Chuck D? Or, as he was called in his memorable appearance on NewsRadio, “Mr. D.”
Will we see yet another game that goes down to the wire? Will a home team win any of these games? Which new celebrities will be courtside? Let’s find out …
Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s Public Enemy frontman Chuck D’s take on what’s becoming one of the more compelling NBA finals in recent memory.
