I suppose most people are enamored with the Spurs because there is a giant alien out on the court. On the other side is one of the shorter guys in the league. Both are superstars, and both delivered to a certain extent on Wednesday night in the series opener. If you want to give me a bit of credit, I’ll take it as well, because I hit on the Knicks covering, and I hit on the under. Let’s try and do it again.
If you want to flash back to the NBA Cup, this game was fairly similar. The Spurs were the better team for three-quarters of that game, and then the Knicks destroyed them late in the game. If the San Antonio legs are tired from playing in seven games against the Thunder, don’t expect them to get any fresher here. If it was just being young and not realizing they needed to close out a game, that might be an easier adjustment to make.
The problem is that when Jalen Brunson does get going, there are very few things you can do to stop him. I’ve said that I don’t think he is as good as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and he may make me eat my words if he keeps hitting shots like he did in the final two minutes of Game 1. The first half was all Spurs, which makes sense — the crowd energy of a home game, and when your fatigue does set in after all the games, the second half is where it hits.
The second half is also where the Knicks hit. They were down 14 at one point in the fourth quarter when New York decided that was enough. They got it into gear and won the quarter by seven points, tying it up going into the fourth. To open that quarter, OG Anunoby came alive. He scored eight straight for the Knicks with Brunson on the bench. Then Brunson came back and took over, scoring 11 straight for the Knicks and 13 in the quarter.
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The Spurs grabbed the lead with about two minutes to go, but a Brunson three led to an 11-0 run to close out the game. So what adjustments can be made for the Spurs to win here? They shot poorly and were two minutes away from being up 1-0 in the series. They shot 36% overall and 26% from deep. Kudos to the Knicks defense, but the Spurs should shoot better here. They won the rebounding battle, but lost the turnover battle.
I expect the team to look for more ways to force the Knicks into help and fouling situations with Victor Wembanyama. Look for them to throw it to him in the paint instead of having him settle for outside shots. He was 3-for-10 from deep and 4-for-9 from the paint. He wasn’t overly efficient, but still effective. The same can be said for Brunson. At a certain point, I fully expect the Spurs to employ an “anyone but him” approach to the Knicks’ scoring.
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If that means letting guys shoot open threes, the Spurs will let it happen. I’m taking the Spurs tonight because I do expect a bounce-back game. The Knicks are locked in, but the Spurs know they have to win this game, and I also think they weren’t that far off from winning the game. Call it zigzag, call it whatever you want, but I’ll back the Spurs -5.5 here. I also think the game goes over as the teams will be a little more liberal on offense after feeling each other out in Game 1.
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