SI:AM | Knicks Bully Spurs in Fourth Quarter to Win NBA Cup

New York outrebounded San Antonio by a staggering margin to lift the trophy.

The Knicks turned the tide in the final quarter to beat the Spurs and claim the NBA Cup. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. Just when I thought the ACC couldn’t get any more chaotic, it went ahead and announced an unbalanced conference football schedule. I’m sure the league will have no trouble crowning an uncontroversial champion when some teams play nine conference games and others only play eight. 

In today’s SI:AM: 
🏆 Knicks win the Cup
🏈 CFP format uncertain
🔮 NFL mock draft

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Another banner for the rafters at MSG

It’s been more than 50 years since the Knicks last won an NBA Finals, but at least now they can say they’ve won something. 

The Knicks defeated the Spurs on Tuesday night in Las Vegas in the championship game of the NBA Cup, 124–113. The amount of stock you put in that probably depends on how closely you’ve been following the three-year-old in-season tournament. 

It was a good game, at least. San Antonio led for the entirety of the second and third quarters before the Knicks surged ahead in the fourth, buoyed by Jordan Clarkson and Tyler Kolek off the bench. (Clarkson had eight of his 15 points in the fourth quarter, and Kolek had six of his 14.) The biggest difference, though, was rebounding. New York outrebounded San Antonio 59–42, and the fourth quarter accounted for that entire 17-rebound margin. The Knicks collected 23 boards in the final period, compared to just six for the Spurs. Mitchell Robinson (eight rebounds) and OG Anunoby (seven) outrebounded the entire Spurs team by themselves. As a result, the Knicks took 12 more shots than the Spurs in the fourth and outscored them by 16 points. 

Knicks players certainly seemed excited to have won the trophy, although it’s impossible to tell how much of their enthusiasm was rooted in being crowned champions of the third annual tournament as opposed to the $530,000 in prize money each player on a standard contract receives. Either way, they finally got to wear hats and t-shirts with “CHAMPIONS” emblazoned across the front (and “NBA Cup” in much smaller print). 

The players spoke of their victory as a step toward accomplishing their real goals for this season. After reaching the Eastern Conference finals last year, the Knicks are hoping to get over the hump this season and reach their first NBA Finals since 1999. Prevailing under the slightly elevated pressure of the Cup was a good warmup for the rigors of April and May basketball (and hopefully June). 

“I’m very excited,” Jalen Brunson said. “It’s a goal of ours that we get to check off. It’s an important stepping stone for us. We can still learn from this game and get better, as well. I’m very thankful for the opportunity presented to ourselves.”

Brunson added that the team wasn’t going to get too hung up on having lifted the trophy. 

“This is great and we’re going to enjoy this,” he said. “But once we leave tomorrow, we’re moving on.”

The players are moving on, but what kind of staying power will the victory have in the minds of fans? 

The Cup has succeeded on multiple fronts, mostly by increasing interest in the NBA during the pre-Christmas portion of the schedule. The players, motivated by those hefty bonuses, seem to turn up the intensity a notch in Cup games, and fans were highly engaged during the quarterfinal games played last week. But there are certainly areas for improvement. The league already plans to address one issue, moving the semifinal games from a neutral site in Las Vegas to the home arena of the higher-seeded team. The energy of home crowds will enhance the viewing experience for fans at home and go a long way toward convincing people that the tournament matters. The final could move to a different home, too. The NBA hasn’t committed long-term to Vegas, and commissioner Adam Silver said before Tuesday’s game that the league could look to hold the game in famous college arenas. 

Will those moves get fans to invest in the tournament? It’s a tough sell. (More than 60% of the 17,000 people who responded to a poll from The Athletic said they “don’t care at all” about the Cup.) The Cup format is new and unfamiliar to American sports fans. It’s a little confusing that games in the early stages of the competition count both toward the regular season and the Cup—and even more confusing that the final doesn’t count toward any official stats. It’s like they never even happened! 

But the league is committed to growing the profile of the Cup. It’s a key part of Amazon’s broadcast rights deal with the NBA, and the league made efforts this year to market the tournament more strongly. Three years into the tournament’s short lifespan, it might not seem that prestigious. But maybe a decade from now, fans will view the Knicks’ win on Tuesday as something worth celebrating. 

The best of Sports Illustrated

Duke's Cam Boozer is one of three players in the running to be the top pick in next year’s NBA draft. / Rob Kinnan-Imagn Images

• Chris Mannix has more on what Tuesday’s NBA Cup final says about the Knicks’ and Spurs’ hopes for this season—and why the Cup has been a success for the league. 
• Mannix also writes about the big news out of the boxing world that Terence Crawford is retiring. 
• Daniel Flick’s fourth NFL mock draft has the Steelers taking a quarterback to replace Aaron Rodgers. 
• Matt Verderame ranks the 10 best rookies in the NFL this season. As a Giants fan, I’ll admit I was surprised to see Jaxson Dart so high on the list. 
• With the deadline to determine next year’s College Football Playoff format fast approaching, Bryan Fischer explains why the Big Ten is holding all the cards. 
• There is no clear consensus on who should be the top pick in next year’s NBA draft. Kevin Sweeney breaks down the three contenders for the No. 1 spot, as well as some other players whose stock is rising. 

The top five…

Macklin Celebrini continued his strong start to his sophomore season on Tuesday with two goals and two assists against the Flames. / Neville E. Guard-Imagn Images

… things I saw last night:
5. A thunderous dunk by North Carolina’s Caleb Wilson. 
4. A clutch sequence on both ends of the floor by Josh Hart late in the Knicks’ win. 
3. A nasty behind-the-back dribble by UCLA’s Charlisse Leger-Walker.
2. A ridiculous reverse dunk by Victor Wembanyama. 
1. A stunning spin move for a goal by the Sharks’ Macklin Celebrini. He also had a nice no-look assist earlier in the game. Celebrini, the No. 1 pick in last year’s NHL draft, is off to an incredible start this season. He ranks third in the NHL with 51 points. And the Sharks, after finishing last year with by far the worst record in the NHL, would be in the playoffs if the season ended today.