SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Victor Wembanyama acknowledged he was stating the obvious when he outlined the two scenarios facing his team in Saturday night’s Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
Either San Antonio wins and keeps the series alive, or New York captures the NBA championship.
Those are the only options remaining. Following 1,321 total games this season — including 1,230 regular season contests, 84 playoff matchups, six play-in tournament games, and one NBA Cup deciding game between these teams — the situation has become that straightforward. A Spurs victory at home would force at least one more game, while a Knicks win would leave only a championship parade on the calendar.
With San Antonio down 3-1 in the series, Wembanyama recognizes the challenging circumstances ahead. History shows that 37 of the previous 38 teams facing a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals have watched their opponents claim the championship. Making matters worse, the Spurs must overcome this deficit after suffering the largest collapse in Finals history — surrendering a 29-point advantage in Wednesday’s 107-106 Game 4 defeat in New York.
“I think it’s going to go one of two ways,” Wembanyama commented following Wednesday’s loss, during which San Antonio was outscored 55-25 over the final 21 1/2 minutes. “One of two ways. A bad one and a good one. The bad one would be giving up. The good one would be getting stronger through this, getting more together. I know this is what we’re going to do.”
Both teams had Thursday off from official practice sessions. Friday practice sessions are planned in San Antonio before Saturday night’s pivotal Game 5, where New York sits one victory away from ending a 53-year championship drought.
The Knicks captured the first two Finals games in San Antonio — mounting comebacks from double-digit deficits in both contests — to seize control of the series. A Saturday victory would make New York the first team since Houston in 1995 to win three games on San Antonio’s home court during a single playoff series.
“Our mentality has to be 0-0, the way it’s been,” Knicks guard Jalen Brunson stated, echoing the approach he has emphasized throughout this postseason. “It has to be that way, and I feel like us moving forward with that mindset can really benefit us. There’s nothing to celebrate. It’s not over yet, not even close.”
While teams holding 3-1 leads typically avoid premature celebrations, Brunson’s caution carries additional weight in this particular series.
Although the 3-1 disadvantage has historically proven nearly impossible to overcome in NBA Finals, with only LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers successfully rallying past Golden State in 2016, this matchup remains statistically competitive.
New York holds just an eight-point scoring advantage across all four games. Field goal percentages are nearly identical, with the Knicks shooting 44% compared to San Antonio’s 43%. Three-point production shows the Knicks with 52 makes versus the Spurs’ 49. Free-throw shooting percentages stand at 79% for New York and 78% for San Antonio. The Knicks lead by three rebounds while both teams have recorded exactly 90 assists through four contests.
“Just take this one game at a time,” said Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox, who faced criticism for attempting a blocked layup in Game 4’s closing seconds rather than running down the clock with a one-point lead. “It obviously looks like a steep hill, but this is something that’s happened before. Take this thing one game at a time. We’ve been in a position to win all these games. We’ve been up double digits. We have to figure out what we need to do to be able to put some of these games away.”
The late-game struggles have become a puzzling pattern for San Antonio.
Game 1 saw them leading by one point with 1:51 remaining before falling to an 11-0 New York closing run.
In Game 2, they held possession in a tied contest with 11 seconds left, only to lose when Wembanyama’s pass to Stephon Castle went unseen, creating a turnover that led to Brunson’s championship-winning free throw.
Most recently, they squandered their 29-point Game 4 lead yet still maintained a one-point advantage until Anunoby’s tip-in with 2.1 seconds remaining.
“We have to try to put this behind us,” Fox said.
Should they fail to do so, New York’s five-decade championship wait could conclude Saturday evening.
