The Knicks had no business winning Game 1 of the 2026 NBA Finals in San Antonio. They were down 14 in the third quarter, on the road, against a Spurs team that had been waiting all week for them. And then Jalen Brunson did the thing he keeps doing in big games.
Brunson dropped 30 points on the Spurs, with 13 of them coming in the fourth quarter alone. Over the final 7:30 of the game, he outscored the entire Spurs team by himself, 13-9. That is not a typo. The Knicks won 105-95.
The dagger was a 14-foot pull-up jumper with 30 seconds left. Brunson set up his man, rose up, and buried it like he had been practicing the moment in his head for a decade. That is twelve straight playoff wins for New York. Twelve.
The Spurs were supposed to be the better team in this matchup. Victor Wembanyama was supposed to be the best player on the floor. Mike Brown was supposed to be feeling the pressure of his first Finals as a head coach. None of that happened.
Brunson is now the only player in NBA history who can match Reggie Miller’s record for fourth quarter scoring across an NBA Finals series, and we’re one game in. He shot 5-of-9 in the final period after going 7-of-22 through the first three. That is not luck. That is a guard who refuses to flinch when the lights get bright.
Karl-Anthony Towns chipped in 18 points and 12 rebounds, and that matters too. The Knicks needed someone to occupy Wembanyama in the paint long enough for Brunson to get loose on the perimeter, and Towns did exactly that. He drew Wemby out to the three-point line, opened up driving lanes, and let Brunson cook.
Mike Brown’s adjustments at halftime were the other story. The Knicks switched everything, sent extra bodies at Wembanyama on the catch, and dared the Spurs role players to beat them. Devin Vassell shot 3-of-12. Chris Paul looked his age. The Spurs role guys looked overwhelmed by the moment, and the Knicks took advantage.
San Antonio is still the favorite in this series. They have home court, they have Wemby, and Game 1 was their worst possible night. But the Knicks just stole one in their building, and now the Spurs have to win two on the road just to get back to even.
What this means is the Finals are going seven. The Knicks are not flinching, Brunson is playing the best basketball of his career, and Wembanyama looked exhausted by the fourth quarter. Anyone who told you this series would be a Spurs sweep should be required to publicly retract that take before Game 2.
Brunson said after the game that the team had been talking all week about the discipline it takes to win on the road. He sounded like a guy who already knew what was coming. The Knicks are 12-0 in playoff games for a reason, and Brunson is the reason.
The series shifts to a 1-0 Knicks lead heading into Game 2 on Friday at the Frost Bank Center. New York is now favored to win the title for the first time since 1973. That sentence used to feel impossible. Now it feels inevitable.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
