The San Antonio Spurs are taking on Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks for the championship. Game 1 of the NBA Finals tips off tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET. At the center of the series is 22-year-old Victor Wembanyama, who led the Spurs to a 62-20 regular-season record and the Southwest Division title.
New York enters the series riding an 11-game playoff winning streak. After falling behind the Atlanta Hawks 2-1 in the first round, the Knicks rallied back and subsequently swept both the Philadelphia 76ers and the Cleveland Cavaliers. They are beating opponents by an average of 24 points during this run. Key rotation pieces include Karl-Anthony Towns, who averages 16.9 points and 10.6 rebounds, and OG Anunoby putting up 19.7 points per game. The Knicks also bring a heavy rest advantage into tonight’s game. They had eight days off, while the Spurs only had three days to recover.
San Antonio just finished a 7-game Western Conference final against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Spurs won that series after successfully shutting down Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Wembanyama recorded career highs this season with 25 points and 11.5 rebounds per game while leading the league with 3.1 blocks. In the playoffs, he is averaging 23.2 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 3.5 blocks. He is supported by Stephon Castle averaging 19.2 points and Dylan Harper adding 13.1 points.
The Spurs are slight betting favorites with an implied 63% chance of winning the championship. New York will need to rely heavily on its home-court advantage early on to offset San Antonio’s size.
National media is comparing the dynamic to a December 1949 matchup at Madison Square Garden featuring George Mikan, according to the Associated Press. Wembanyama is being positioned as the next big man in the lineage of Wilt Chamberlain and Tim Duncan to face the New York spotlight. The cultural impact off the court is already altering local business habits. San Antonio shops are seeing surges in foot traffic, and public libraries are creating “What Wemby’s Reading” book lists to capitalize on his popularity, as noted in a CBC Sports breakdown published this week.