SAN ANTONIO – It’s almost that time for the San Antonio Spurs and the New York Knicks to tip off in the 2026 NBA Finals, marking the second time the two teams have met in the finals round.
It’s a matchup few saw coming before the start of the season, mostly because it had been at least a decade since either team had made the NBA Finals and six seasons since the Spurs last made the postseason to begin with in 2019. Tim Duncan’s dreadlocks were still in its infancy.
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That’s just one thing to keep in mind. Here are some other defining numbers to crunch before the action gets underway tomorrow night.
Spurs and Knicks history in NBA Finals
- Spurs are 6-0 in NBA Finals Game 1s, holding the league record for most wins without a loss in any particular Finals game.
- Knicks are 2-7 in the NBA Finals, while the Spurs are 5-1.
The Spurs carry momentum off the high of their Game 7 win against top-seeded Oklahoma City, while the Knicks come into Game 1 off nine days rest. This favors a fast start for San Antonio in Game 1. The question is whether attrition will set in later in the series, as the Knicks have played in four fewer games this postseason.
Spurs/Knicks is the ninth Finals matchup featuring one team coming off a four-game sweep and the other coming off a seven-game series. The teams coming off the sweep are 5-3. But when extended to any round of the playoffs, the metric heavily favors the team coming off a sweep, with those teams boasting a record of 20-4.
Differences in team building
- Three of 5 Spurs starters have played their entire career with the team. (Julian Champagnie was traded to the Spurs his rookie year.)
- No Knicks starter began their career with the franchise.
The Knicks have been all-in on winning a title for the better part of the decade. They have been one of the most active teams in the league in free agency and at the trade deadline, and they may have found their final piece in new head coach Mike Brown, who finally has New York in the Finals for the first time in 26 years.
The Spurs, meanwhile, have been sort of a happy accident. They are the second-youngest team to reach the NBA Finals in the shot clock era (25 years and 20 days), based on average age weighted by postseason playing time. Harrison Barnes is the steady veteran presence on the team, and De’Aaron Fox is the only other player who had significant playoff experience before this season.
Even their head coach is homegrown. Mitch Johnson, 39, spent six years on Gregg Popovich’s staff before becoming his permanent successor this season. He could be the sixth rookie head coach in NBA history to win the NBA Finals since the NBA-ABA merger in 1976, joining Paul Westhead, Pat Riley, Steve Kerr, Tyronn Lue and Nick Nurse.
Matchup history this season
- Dec. 16 (NBA Cup final): Knicks win 124-113
- Wemby came off the bench on a minutes restriction, scoring 18, still nursing a left calf strain that caused him to miss 12 games.
- Dec. 31: Spurs win at home 134-132
- Champagnie: 36 pts, all threes (11-17).
- Wemby: 31 pts, 13 reb, 1 blks, 3 TOs (24 minutes)
- March 1: Knicks win at home 114-89
- Spurs committed 21 turnovers, shot 42% from the field.
- Knicks outscored Spurs by 16 in the fourth quarter (35-19).
- NY’s win snapped SA’s 11-game win streak at the time.
- Wemby: 25 pts, 13 rebs, 4 blks, 7 TOs
In the Knicks two victories over the Spurs, they compiled a 69-39 edge in the final quarter. That trend could very well continue, as the Knicks hold a rest advantage.
With rumblings of Victor Wembanyama’s stamina having come into question throughout the playoffs, he has a chance to either squash that narrative against a more rested team — or be proven liable.
Other fun facts
- Both the Spurs and Knicks have first-year head coaches. The last and only NBA Finals to feature two first-year head coaches was Warriors/Cavaliers in 2015.
- Knicks are riding an 11-game win streak, with a +262 point differential.
- Knicks have the highest postseason offensive efficiency rating (123.3) of any Eastern Conference champion since the number began being tracked by ESPN in 2003.
- Knicks are the first team in NBA history to win three straight playoff games by 25+ points.
- Knicks are 23-0 this season (regular and post) holding opponents under 100 points.
- Knicks opened the market at +170. The only teams that won the NBA Finals as greater underdogs? 2019 Toronto Raptors, 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers and 2004 Detroit Pistons (per Covers).
- Spurs are the fifth team to end a postseason drought of at least six seasons with an NBA Finals appearance.
- Spurs have held opponents to 41% shooting this postseason, the lowest mark of a playoff team since the 2019 Milwaukee Bucks.
- Victor Wembanyama has contested more field goal attempts than any other player this postseason, resulting in as many blocks as baskets allowed (60).
- Devin Vassell has allowed a 24.3% field goal percentage this postseason as a contesting defender, the lowest mark in a single postseason since ESPN began tracking the stat in 2020. Wemby is second at 27.9%.
- Wembanyama made his first NBA Finals in just his third season, faster than notable NBA legends, such as LeBron James (4th), Kobe Bryant (4th) and Michael Jordan (7th).
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