GREENBURGH, N.Y. — The New York Knicks chose not to display a championship banner after defeating the San Antonio Spurs for the NBA Cup title because they’re holding out for a more significant celebration.
Their championship drought has now reached 53 years, and it can only conclude by once again defeating the Spurs.
Following their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999, which they secured nearly a week ago, the Knicks finally held practice Sunday with knowledge of their opponent. The Spurs advanced after Victor Wembanyama led his team past Oklahoma City in Saturday night’s Game 7 of the Western Conference finals.
“I mean, they’re a special team,” Knicks guard Deuce McBride said. “Obviously they have the Defensive Player of the Year, obviously a great organization and they’ve got a lot of great young guys, so we’re just excited for this matchup.”
This matchup mirrors the Knicks’ previous Finals appearance, when San Antonio defeated them 27 years ago, extending New York’s championship absence that began in 1973.
New York entered this season confident about their championship prospects and received an early preview of title contention in December, when they defeated San Antonio in Las Vegas for the NBA Cup championship.
Unlike the Lakers and Milwaukee, who previously won the in-season tournament and raised banners at their home arenas, the Knicks chose not to commemorate their NBA Cup victory at Madison Square Garden. Six months later, they’re not placing much emphasis on that win, recognizing how much both franchises have evolved.
“Obviously there was good energy around that, but I don’t think that’s really going to be any equivalent to what the atmosphere or the energy is going to be like at their place, or obviously at the Garden,” Knicks forward Josh Hart said.
“So technically that game didn’t happen, so I don’t think there’s anything that we can learn from,” Hart added, poking fun at the fact that the Cup final, an 83rd game for the two teams, doesn’t count in the standings or statistics.
During the regular season, the clubs divided their two official meetings. San Antonio’s New Year’s Eve victory triggered a midseason decline for New York, who entered that contest with a 23-9 record. Later, after the Spurs completed an unbeaten February, New York ended their 11-game winning streak with a 114-89 home triumph on March 1.
Wednesday marks Game 1 in San Antonio. Beyond Wembanyama and the Spurs, the Knicks’ greatest challenge may be their limited game action recently.
Due to their dominant postseason run featuring an 11-game winning streak, Wednesday will mark only their 10th contest in a 35-day period, beginning with their April 30 series-clinching victory over Atlanta in Game 6 of the opening round.
Following a sweep of Philadelphia and more than a week of rest before the Eastern Conference finals against Cleveland, their extended break clearly affected their performance. They managed just 4 of 23 three-point attempts through three quarters and trailed by 22 points early in the fourth quarter before mounting an overtime victory.
“We understand what happened last time we had a layoff like this, so we’re just trying to be better than we were last time,” center Karl-Anthony Towns said.
That represented the Knicks’ only difficulty against the Cavaliers, as they dominated the following three games and concluded the series last Monday. During their winning streak, they have outscored opponents by 262 points, representing the largest margin for any 11-game stretch in NBA history.
The Knicks anticipate no such ease against the Spurs, whose 1999 Finals victory marked their first of five NBA championships. New York coach Mike Brown served on the bench for one of those titles as an assistant to Gregg Popovich, and was the losing coach in another when San Antonio swept Cleveland in 2007.
“I got ties to San Antonio and you appreciate the people, you appreciate the journey and all that other stuff,” said Brown, who has family still living in San Antonio. “But at the end of the day, just like they want to beat you, you definitely want to beat them.”
