New York Knicks at San Antonio Spurs

New York is one win from a title nobody in this city has been alive long enough to remember celebrating. San Antonio is staring down the largest collapse in Finals history and an elimination game inside 48 hours of it. Tip is 7:30 PM CT at the Frost Bank Center, and the Spurs open as a 5.5-point home favorite — a number that says oddsmakers still believe Victor Wembanyama is going to play like a cornered animal.

About that Game 4. Spurs led by 29, then watched Jalen Brunson go for 36 and OG Anunoby drop 33 and put back the game-winner with 1.2 seconds left. Wembanyama finished with 24 and 13 on 9-of-25 — the production was there, the second-half offense wasn't. San Antonio has actually led every game in this series by double digits at some point. They just can't close New York out.

The injury sheet is mostly clean on both sides, but Luke Kornet (illness) is questionable, which matters for a Spurs team that has leaned on him as a screen-and-roll anchor when Wemby goes to the bench. David Jones Garcia is out for the year after ankle surgery and has been since February, so nothing new there. Brunson is expected to play through whatever's left over from Game 4 — he always does.

The hard truth for San Antonio: only one team in Finals history has come back from 3-1, and that was the 2016 Cavs with the best player on the planet. Wembanyama has a case to be the best player on the planet, but he doesn't have a 2016-LeBron supporting cast, and Brunson and Anunoby just proved they can take a 29-point haymaker and still land the finishing blow. The Knicks have not lost back-to-back games in over a month.

What to actually watch: how Mike Brown attacks Wembanyama early, whether San Antonio's bench can hold a lead past the third quarter for once, and how Brunson handles the road crowd that's going to be on him from the jump. New York doesn't need to play their best game. They just need to not throw a 29-point lead back the other way.

Sources