San Antonio faces a challenging situation following their collapse from a 14-point advantage in the opening game of the NBA Finals.
Rather than holding a 1-0 series lead and being championship favorites, the Spurs dropped the contest, surrendered their home-court edge, and now trail as series underdogs.
Despite this setback, they enter Game 2 as a consensus 6.5-point favorite at home Friday evening. A victory would send San Antonio to New York with the series even. A defeat would put the Spurs at risk of not bringing the series back home for Game 5.
BETTING LINES & PATTERNS
DraftKings shows nearly even moneyline wagering, with San Antonio receiving 52% of total bets. Meanwhile, New York as 6.5-point underdogs has attracted 58% of spread betting.
BetMGM opened the spread at 5.5 but moved it up a full point with New York drawing 60% of bets and 84% of the money. The Knicks’ +190 moneyline has also captured 75% and 60% of the action, respectively.
PLAYER BETTING OPTIONS
Knicks guard Josh Hart Under 11.5 Points (-120 at BetMGM) stands as the most popular player wager at the sportsbook, with Hart producing just 3 points in Game 1. This followed a 6-point effort in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals, though he averaged 14.3 points during the four-game Cleveland sweep.
Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama 25+ Points (-203 at DraftKings) reflects expectations for a strong bounce-back performance from Wembanyama, who scored 26 points while shooting just 28.6% from the field in Game 1. He averaged 27.3 points during the seven-game Oklahoma City series and 26.4 points per game at home this season.
GAME DEVELOPMENTS
Jalen Brunson carried New York’s offense in Game 1, recording 13 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter. Brunson continued playing despite suffering right knee and left ankle injuries during the first half.
The Knicks closed Game 1 with an 11-0 surge to stun the Spurs on their home court.
San Antonio managed just 6-of-21 field goal shooting and turned the ball over five times while being outscored by 10 points in the final quarter.
While the Spurs roster includes many players experiencing their first NBA Finals, coach Mitch Johnson rejected the idea that inexperience caused their late-game struggles.
“Old teams make bad decisions, too, at the end of games,” Johnson said. “It’s looking at a picture, understand if you see that moving forward, whatever that pattern is, whatever led to that situation, if you can recognize it and make a better decision next time or understand maybe where there’s a better opportunity to look for an advantage, we’ll try to help them with that.”
Wembanyama’s 6-of-21 shooting performance perhaps best symbolized their downfall. The French star also turned the ball over six times.
He insisted the pressure of his first appearance on basketball’s biggest stage didn’t affect him. Wembanyama also received a message from legendary director of basketball operations Gregg Popovich regarding his performance.
“In the big lines, it was that I’ve been bad and I’m better than this,” Wembanyama said of what Popovich’s message entailed.
Wembanyama still managed 26 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots.
San Antonio guard De’Aaron Fox struggled significantly, scoring seven points on 3-of-13 shooting while frequently defending Brunson.
Fox acknowledged Thursday that his shooting must improve while emphasizing that Wednesday’s result represents just one loss.
“We know it’s a long series,” Fox said. “Obviously you want to win every game that you have on your home court, but it’s not the way it happens every day. We try to go in and fix the things we need to fix. Obviously we want a different outcome.”
OUTLOOK
The foundation exists for a compelling series, but only if San Antonio can recover to win Game 2. It would be challenging for them to perform worse than their collapse from 14 points ahead to a 10-point defeat Wednesday night. Prediction: Spurs 107, Knicks 103.
