We’ve made it. The beginning of the end to a memorable, painful season of NBA basketball. The NBA Finals. Knicks vs. Spurs. Here we go.
Who: San Antonio Spurs vs. New York Knicks
Where: Frost Bank Center, San Antonio, TX
When: 8:30 PM ET / 5:30 PM PT
Watch: ABC
Who are we rooting for tonight, Kings fans? The team that fleeced the Kings in the De’Aaron Fox trade, or the team that hired Mike Brown after he apparently wasn’t good enough for Vivek Ranadive? There is also the OG Anunoby element. And Harrison Barnes. Who could forget Harrison Barnes.
I don’t know. I think I’m rooting for the Knicks here. Something about the Spurs getting gifted Wemby after all the success (and draft luck) they had in the Gregg Popovich era, on top of landing Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle, on top of Fox using all his leverage to land there… I’ll pass on supporting that sequence of events. Did they do anything wrong? No. Do I have to root for them, though? Also no. Am I a hater? Probably. Could I be convinced that the Spurs are a more ethical choice? Yeah.
I don’t really want to see James Dolan win, either. The Knicks aren’t perfect, but they took some massive swings via trade that paid off. Signed the right players. They went all-in with this group, and it actually worked. Not to bring everything back to the Kings, but that is something Sacramento didn’t do in the Beam Team era. One great year, and refused to do anything truly aggressive to take them to the next level. DeMar DeRozan was their best attempt at an upgrade, and that experiment failed miserably.
All that being said, I think the Spurs win the series.
Prediction for tonight: Spurs 115, Knicks 110
Go Spurs! All the NY celebs can go cry in their penthouses about it.
This is pretty adorable though: Zohran Mamdani repeals New York kids’ bedtimes during Knicks’ NBA Finals run – The Athletic
They have a government mandated bedtime? Is that a normal thing?
It’s just a lighthearted publicity stunt.
Ahh, I couldn’t access the article, just saw the headline.
I like that the Knicks got to the finals without tanking. They used trades and cap money to build the team. But I also can’t stand Knicks fans/pundits.
Spurs tanked for a while, got some lottery luck, and were rewarded.
I don’t really care who wins. I just want to see some good basketball to end the season.
Knicks also leveraged their own future to get here. They still owe the Nets 3 unprotected 1sts and a pick swap, not to mention the two 2025 picks that already conveyed for Towns and Bridges. Those became Joan Beringer to Minny and Ben Saraf to Brooklyn.
But hey, if they win a title, it’s all worth it I suppose. If they don’t…they are already a tax paying team next year with just 9 rostered players. They are all in.
Still can’t wrap my head around giving that much up for Bridges.
New York’s all right … if you like saxophones.
Think this is going to be a pretty fun series. I think the Spurs win in 6.
I’m rooting for Fox & Barnes, individually, but I’m mainly rooting for Mike Brown and the Knicks (or whatever non-West Conference team makes it to the finals in general).
Fox has just been flat out bad in the playoffs, and it’s pretty disappointing to watch. He was fantastic in the clutch just a few years ago, and now he has a lot less pressure and attention on him, and has somehow gotten worse.
He’s still bringing value in being a steady presence and better ball handler than their other guards, but he’s going to become surplus on this team really soon, if that hasn’t already happened.
I keep hoping he’ll turn a corner at some point, but 7 points on 13 shots in Game 1 is killing that team. Wemby wasn’t good either, and they certainly have time to get right, but I expected Fox to be better with less defensive attention and pressure, and that hasn’t happened in these playoffs. I don’t believe his sprained ankle is affecting his shot where he’s at 25% in a game, especially after three days off.
I like Fox. Great person and teammate, and the Spurs are easy to root for. I just hope he’s able to contribute.
Fox has just been flat out bad in the playoffs, and it’s pretty disappointing to watch. He was fantastic in the clutch just a few years ago, and now he has a lot less pressure and attention on him, and has somehow gotten worse.
He’s still bringing value in being a steady presence and better ball handler than their other guards, but he’s going to become surplus on this team really soon, if that hasn’t already happened.
I keep hoping he’ll turn a corner at some point, but 7 points on 13 shots in Game 1 is killing that team. Wemby wasn’t good either, and they certainly have time to get right, but I expected Fox to be better with less defensive attention and pressure, and that hasn’t happened in these playoffs. I don’t believe his sprained ankle is affecting his shot where he’s at 25% in a game, especially after three days off.
I like Fox. Great person and teammate, and the Spurs are easy to root for. I just hope he’s able to contribute.
2025 brought Marty a new girlfriend and a family of Knicks fans.
Go Knicks!
Trust the Process!
Weren’t those two on the Kings, like maybe, 20 years ago? it’s been so long.
I grew up in Nu Yawk with the Red Holzman Knickerbockers (Champs in ‘70 and ‘73) and those teams played a beautiful style of basketball – >50 yrs ago.
Wemby and the Spurs are a perfect match – I shudder to think if The Alien ended up (almost) anywhere else. I can’t root against the guy. He is awesome. Derek Harper is a pleasure to watch as well.
I am fanning both teams- because it isn’t an exclusive. Would love to see NYK get another Championship.IF he stays healthy this could be the start of many for Wembanyama or maybe the Knicks win this time before we see an new era of Wemby dominance. Maybe, like the great Dan Marino, you just get this one chance.
After this first game – it should be a great series. Next game, Friday night.I’ll be watching.
Hehe, I like the “Nu Yawk” pronunciation.
Spurs fans ripping into Fox’s play in this game. Some saying he should have been benched in place of Harper at clutch time (the irony). I was working so I wasn’t able to watch. Was Swipe that bad?
I’m not a big Fox fan, and he wasn’t great, but he also is still hurting from his ankle sprain.
Having said that, whatever the reason for his play, I propbably would also have rolled with Harper. One of the most poised rookies I have seen.
I don’t think Fox is there much longer. The Spurs could really use an upgrade at the SF/PF spot.
Barnes and Carter Bryant aren’t good enough at this point.
at least the spurs have the assets (draft capital) to attach to fox to get rid of him…that contract is brutal
Fox wasn’t very good.
atrocious lol…we got more than enough value in the trade, spurs are going to have to attach picks to dump him lol
Fox might be tough to unload with a giant extension kicking in, but we got garbage in the trade.
Fox choked.
Spurs choked.
They got too dependent on Wemby.
Harper is going to be great.
Vivek sucks.
First time in the Finals for Fox. I would give him a pass for now. Next game, not so much.
Fox choked.
Spurs choked.
They got too dependent on Wemby.
Harper is going to be great.
Vivek sucks.
Can say the same thing for Brunson and the Knicks too (except OG). But they’ve had more playoff experience than Fox. Id give him a pass.
I still like Fox and think he is a contributor. However, he seems expendable on this team. They have Castle(21) and Harper(20) and Wemby(22)under team control, and can send Fox’s large salary out for continued future assets. It’s kind of disgusting that the Spurs have this many good players under age 22, and are in the Finals.
Thanks for not getting any young players back in the Fox trade, Kings front office.
uhhh if you think they are getting quality future assets for fox I got a bridge to sell you…that contract is so upside down for the player
Fox and picks to Utah for Lauri. Could make sense for both teams.
Utah picks Boozer #2 and rolls out a Fox, George, Bailey, Boozer, JJJ lineup.
I could also see a Fox to Minny for Randle and DDV trade. Minny desperately needs a PG to take the burden off of Ant and needs to shake things up.
I like those Fox trade ideas. But I think the Spurs will have a to attach a pick(s) to move him. Another thing with Fox is that he’s never had a major injury as far as I can recall, but he’s always banged up and missing games. That contract is an albatross.
But I do like his fit in both Minny and Utah.
Fox to MIA would be nice. Pair him back with Bam while getting rid of Wigs. Wigs would thrive under the Spurs system as SF.
If we had gotten Castle back instead of Zach…
Fox has been pretty average at best during this Spurs run and was not very good in Game 1.
That massive contract doesn’t kick in until this offseason. It’ll cap out at $61 million in the 29-30 season. Fox is not a $50 million a year plus player. At a certain point, the Spurs will want to move that contract, it’ll be interesting to see how it’s valued. In the same vain, It’ll be interesting to see how Chet’s contract will be valued.
I think the NBA is changing and only superstars will get the max contracts and 2nd tier players not so much.
And here lies our conundrum as Kangz fans. Our best player gets traded to a team where he gets a max contract, but then gets outplayed by a 2nd year guard and a rookie. We knew he was always going to be Robin, but the Spurs have 3 alphas now.
Very surprised that the Knicks pulled that off with Brunson getting so banged up early on. Fox did not play well at all and Harper completely balled out for them. Wouldn’t be surprised if Fox sits a bit unless he turns it around on Friday. I was very excited to see HB get some great minutes and play good defense. Fun game.
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