NEW YORK – Even as they authored the second-longest postseason winning streak in NBA history, the New York Knicks knew it wouldn’t be easy to win the franchise’s first championship since 1973.
Beginning Wednesday, they’ll find out just how arduous the rest of the path might become.
The Knicks will look to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals while the San Antonio Spurs will aim to knot the best-of-seven series when New York hosts San Antonio in Game 4 on Wednesday night.
The Spurs climbed back into the Finals Monday night, when Victor Wembanyama produced 32 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three blocks as San Antonio held off the Knicks for a 115-111 win.
The loss snapped a 13-game winning streak for the Knicks, who went 45 days without a defeat following a 109-108 setback against the Atlanta Hawks in Game 3 of an Eastern Conference first-round series on April 23.
New York fell two wins shy of matching the 2017 Golden State Warriors, who won their first 15 postseason games en route to the title.
“Every loss kind of hurts the same,” Knicks forward Josh Hart said Tuesday. “That’s a good team. We knew they weren’t just going to lay down and let us win four straight. We knew this was going to be a battle.”
The battle grew increasingly heated Monday.
Wembanyama was not charged with a foul after shoving Jalen Brunson to the floor with a little under five minutes left in the first quarter.
“He got away with one,” Knicks backup guard Jose Alvarado said Tuesday. “That’ll be the last one.”
Hart was whistled for a technical with 3:24 left in the first period when he shoved Luke Kornet after Kornet bumped into him following Hart’s coast-to-coast layup. In the third, Brunson’s foul of Julian Champagnie on a 3-point attempt was upgraded to a flagrant.
“The Knicks play super, super physical,” Champagnie said Tuesday. “That’s a part of their identity. We obviously have to do a good job of matching that and doing more of that. But I’m assuming it’s not going to get (any) easier.”
The Knicks also found it difficult Monday to overcome Brunson’s inefficiency and Karl-Anthony Towns’ fourth-quarter struggles.
Brunson scored a team-high 32 points Monday but on 11-of-25 shooting. He is shooting 37% from the field in the Finals after shooting 48.6% during the first three rounds.
Towns was scoreless in the final period for the third straight game. He has attempted just six field goals in the fourth quarter in the Finals.
“We have, what, 13 games in a row (and) 50 days of film to show what it looks like when we’re at our best?” Towns said. “We’ll get back to our fundamentals — what makes us great, what made us great — and get back to work tomorrow.”
The Spurs regained their winning formula Monday as Wembanyama produced his first 30-point effort since May 24, when he had 33 points in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The 7-foot-4 superstar scored the first four points of the game via dunks and was 9-of-14 from inside the arc after going 13-of-27 on traditional field goals in Games 1 and 2. Wembanyama was 2-of-4 from 3-point land Monday after going 4-of-15 from long distance during the first two tilts.
“The goal is always to go inside,” Wembanyama said. “The best shot in the game is an alley-oop — the most efficient shot.”
Wembanyama thriving inside opened up the most balanced offense of the series for the Spurs, who put five other players in double figures. That included Stephon Castle, who scored 18 of his 23 points in the first half before collecting five of San Antonio’s final seven points of the game.
The 115 points for the Spurs were their most since May 28, when San Antonio beat the Thunder 118-91 in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals
“What we’ve built with this team is we have an identity that makes everybody dangerous,” Wembanyama said. “Sometimes it will pay off over a season, over a playoff series.”
