The Knicks needed a 14-point comeback to do it. They got it.
New York beat the San Antonio Spurs 105-95 in Game 1 of the 2026 NBA Finals on Tuesday night at Frost Bank Center, erasing a double-figure second-half deficit to steal a road win in their first Finals game in 26 years.
Jalen Brunson scored 30 points. Karl-Anthony Towns added 18 and 12 rebounds. OG Anunoby had 17. They are now on 12 consecutive playoff wins, a run that has not included a single defeat since the first round.
Victor Wembanyama scored 26 points and pulled 12 rebounds. He hit 6 of 21 shots from the field.
New York lead the series 1-0. Game 2 is Thursday in San Antonio.
The game
San Antonio built that 14-point lead in the second half and it felt like the Spurs had found their footing. Frost Bank Center was loud. Wembanyama was getting to his spots. The Knicks’ offence was grinding through a San Antonio defence that was switching well and contesting every drive.
Then Tom Thibodeau brought Brunson off the bench to start the fourth quarter after a rest period and everything changed.
Six points in under a minute. Two possessions. Two made shots. New York were back in the game with 6:34 on the clock.
The sequence that set up that Brunson run was Miles McBride’s corner three, which tied the game just before Q4 began. Brunson walked in from his rest, sized up the situation, and did what closers do. The Spurs had no immediate answer. Once New York were ahead, San Antonio could not find the run to respond.
The Knicks outscored the Spurs 29-19 in the fourth quarter. The game that looked like a Spurs win at three-quarter time ended up as a Knicks win by 10.
What Wembanyama’s night means
The 6-for-21 shooting line is the story of Game 1. Not because it means Wembanyama cannot play at this level, nobody watching these playoffs believes that, but because it shows exactly what New York’s defensive scheme is designed to do.
The Knicks put Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson on Wembanyama in various combinations, switching every screen, taking away his preferred posting positions, and making him shoot from further out or try to get to the rim against length. The result: 6 for 21. His best looks came in the second quarter when the switching broke down briefly. When it held, he could not generate clean attempts.
He still scored 26 points. That is the remarkable part. He had 26 points on 6-for-21 shooting, which means he was getting to the free throw line and converting enough there to remain dangerous despite the field goal difficulty. In a game where he was shooting that poorly and still scoring 26, you understand why San Antonio reached the Finals with him.
The question is whether he shows up in Game 2 the same way or finds an adjustment.
Brunson and the Knicks machine
Brunson’s 30 points are the headline, but the number that defines Game 1 is not the total, it is the six points in under 60 seconds in Q4. Thibodeau managed his minutes to ensure Brunson had energy for exactly that moment. It worked.
Towns’ 18 points and 12 rebounds meant the Spurs could not dominate the glass. Anunoby’s 17 provided New York with a third scoring option that San Antonio’s defence had to respect. When three players are contributing at that level, it forces the defence to make choices. The Spurs cannot send everything at Brunson without Towns and Anunoby making them pay.
The 12 consecutive playoff wins sit behind all of this. New York have not lost in these playoffs since the first round. Their identity is built on defensive discipline, Brunson’s clutch reliability, and a second unit that does not concede momentum. All three showed up in San Antonio.
What happens next
Game 2 is Thursday in San Antonio. The Spurs go back to Frost Bank Center needing a result to level the series. If New York go 2-0 on the road in Games 1 and 2, the series moves to Madison Square Garden with the Knicks two wins from the championship.
San Antonio’s coaching staff will adjust the Wemby usage. They will look for cleaner pick-and-roll sets, different angles to attack the KAT switch, and ways to get Wembanyama free throws earlier in shot clocks rather than late-clock pull-ups from the perimeter. He does not shoot 6-for-21 twice without a reason.
But New York’s defence does not disappear in 48 hours either. The switching scheme, the length, the communication, these are the product of a defensive culture built over four years. One game does not expose its weaknesses entirely.
The 2026 NBA Finals has found its central narrative: Wembanyama’s elite talent against the Knicks’ defensive system. Game 1 went to the system.
Game 2 is Thursday. Same city. Different pressure for both sides.
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