SI:AM | Jalen Brunson Wasn’t the Only Knicks Hero in Game 1 vs. Spurs

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I still can’t believe the Knicks—the Knicks—won an NBA Finals game.

In today’s SI:AM:

The Knicks’ other heroes

The Knicks just flipped the script in the NBA Finals.

New York is considered the underdog in the series against the Spurs, who had a better regular-season record while playing in the superior Western Conference. But the Knicks just went into San Antonio and won Game 1, 105–95, to steal home court advantage.

The man of the hour was Jalen Brunson, of course. Brunson has been his team’s most important player ever since his 2022 arrival in New York sparked a Knicks renaissance. So when he went to the locker room with an apparent knee injury in the first quarter of Game 1, Knicks fans held their breath. When he had his ankle stepped on by San Antonio’s Luke Kornet in the second quarter, their hearts skipped a beat again.

But Brunson shook off the injury scares and led his team to victory with a 30-point performance. He wasn’t perfect, going 12-for-31 from the floor (38.7%), but he was at his best when it mattered most. He scored 13 points in the fourth quarter (on 5-for-9 shooting) and sealed the game with a tough jumper in the final minute.

While Brunson made the highlight reel plays, he had a lot of help from his supporting cast. Here are four more players who made the Knicks’ win possible.

Karl-Anthony Towns

Towns isn’t a secret weapon by any means, but his contributions in Game 1 were quieter. He finished with 18 points, 12 rebounds and four assists. Most importantly, though, he held his own against Victor Wembanyama.

Whether the Knicks can contain Wemby is the biggest question mark in this series. Wembanyama has been transcendent at times during this postseason, but he’s also had his struggles. He scored 26 points in Game 1, but 12 of them came from the free throw line. He shot 6-for-21 from the floor. That’s 28.6%, his second lowest field goal percentage of these playoffs.

Part of the problem for Wemby was that he went 2-for-9 from three-point range. (He occasionally has these games where he somewhat inexplicably decides to start launching too many threes.) But part of it was that Towns did a good job of containing him on the interior. Towns isn’t a fantastic defender, but he’s solid. He’s 7 feet tall and decently nimble. He’s also stronger than Wembanyama. If the Knicks are going to win the series, they need to neutralize Wembanyama. Towns managed to do it for at least one game.

“Just try to make it difficult,” Towns said after the game of his defensive approach on Wembanyama. “He’s an amazing player, one-of-a-kind player in this NBA, that the league has ever seen, and you just try to make it as difficult as possible.”

Josh Hart

The Knicks’ third-most important player was one who only scored three points. Hart’s only field goal of the game came three minutes into the first quarter. But he finished with 15 rebounds, six assists and four steals. Hart’s most important contributions often don’t show up in the box score. He hustles for loose balls, plays good defense and makes the extra pass.

Sometimes the smartest thing a player can do is recognize when it’s not his night. Hart has not shot the ball well this postseason, and teams have been content to leave him open behind the arc. He went 0-for-3 from three in Game 1. In the fourth quarter, as the Knicks attempted to close out the victory, Hart didn’t take a single shot. He let the team’s better offensive players take those opportunities.

Hart also made a great high-IQ play in the final minute. With the Spurs trailing 99–95, Hart swiped the ball away from Wembanyama, then smartly chose not to pass the ball to an open Mikal Bridges on the ensuing fast break. You could see Hart think about making the pass for the easy two points, but he instead pulled up to allow the Knicks’ offense to get set and take some time off the clock. Brunson hit his dagger 20 seconds later. Brunson’s shot was huge, but Hart’s decision to burn some clock made Brunson’s bucket even costlier for the Spurs.

Jose Alvarado

Thanks to Brunson’s early injury scare, Alvarado played more meaningful minutes in Game 1 than in any other game this postseason. He played 11 minutes, which isn’t much, but his contributions when Brunson was in the locker room helped ensure the game didn’t get away from the Knicks.

When Brunson left the game, the Spurs were in the middle of a 20–3 run. It’s easy to envision a scenario where the Knicks, already on their heels, completely fold after losing their most important player. But Alvarado kept them afloat as the Knicks chipped away at the deficit. He had seven points and four rebounds in just 6:34 of playing time in the first half.

OG Anunoby

Anunoby picked the right time to come alive offensively. After a quiet first three quarters (five points on 2-for-6 shooting), he was just as crucial to the Knicks' closing out the win as Brunson was. Anunoby had 12 points in the final period, just one fewer than Brunson’s headline-grabbing performance. Bridges and Landry Shamet (two points apiece) were the only other Knicks players who scored in the fourth.

Perhaps the Knicks’ greatest strength is their depth. Brunson is capable of taking over a game, and Towns is one of the best big men of his generation, but New York also has a bunch of players who are capable of taking the reins on offense when required. Hart did it in Game 2 against the Cavaliers when he broke out of his shooting slump and hit five threes. Bridges has done it multiple times this postseason, and so has Anunoby. Now they just need three more games like last night to take home the title.

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The top five…

… things I saw last night:

5. Karl-Anthony Towns’s introspective interview on Inside the NBA after the Knicks’ win.

4. A truly bizarre choice by Red Sox interim third base coach Chad Epperson. On a ball down the left field line, Epperson ran out into the field of play to try to see the ball before waving the runner home. I get why he’d want to do it, but he’s still nowhere near the coach’s box!

3. Jalen Brunson’s go-ahead three in the final two minutes.

2. Red Sox pitcher Payton Tolle’s funny reaction to a ball hit back toward him.

1. The ovation Phillies fans gave Cristopher Sánchez after his 50 ⅔ innings scoreless streak was snapped.

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