The New York Knicks are as close as they've been this century to making the NBA Finals. The team's championship-level goals have resulted in several mountain's worth of challenges for them to climb. And despite making it to the Eastern Conference Finals, they still have a long way to go.
Even if they're able to make it to the postseason's final round, though, it's clear that the other side of the bracket won't have good news for them. Monday night's opener between the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder revealed the Western Conference's representative in the Finals as the Knicks' toughest potential challenge.
Victor Wembanyama became the youngest player with a 40-point, 20-rebound performance in the NBA Finals. And the Spurs had success guarding Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. If they even get the chance to, fans in New York have plenty of reasons to be concerned about San Antonio.
Wemby takes center stage as red-hot Spurs outlast Thunder
It would objectively be a "champagne problem" if the Knicks had to worry about facing off against either the Spurs or Thunder in the NBA Finals, the round of the playoffs their governor declared that he expected to represent the Eastern Conference in.
Even without James Dolan justifiably showing some confidence after the team's NBA Cup Championship, the expectations were always going to be high of a New York group that decided to make a coaching change after reaching last year's Eastern Conference Finals.
Watching Wembanyama dominate the game on both ends of the floor, going as far as to save the Spurs' chances in regulation with a 3-pointer launched almost 30 feet away from the basket, was unbelievable. But once the shocking awe subsided, reality began to set in – at least for fans of the Knicks or Cavaliers.Â
An ECF victory gets their squad one step closer to rewriting narratives, dictating part of history, and changing their own careers and lives forever. But whether it's Wemby's Spurs, or the back-to-back MVP and his Thunder, their NBA Finals opponent will – naturally – be the best team they'll have faced all postseason.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's struggles could bode poorly for Jalen Brunson
Part of what makes the Spurs so dangerous is their plethora of young, athletic, and skilled guards. All-Star De'Aaron Fox certainly leads the group, but having the length of younger players like Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle to throw in SGA's direction has proven immensely valuable.
Gilgeous-Alexander is reponsible for most of the Thunder offense, which is why the Spurs set to shut his water off. It's how the Dallas Mavericks took OKC down in the 2024 playoffs, the last time they lost a series. And they succeeded, with the Canadian guard shooting just 7-23 from the floor in 51 minutes.
SGA will likely get back to dominance on offense. But San Antonio's ability to slow him down should make Knick fans raise at least one of their eyebrows.
Do the Knicks have enough scoring to keep that kind of attention away from Jalen Brunson? Can he deal with it in the minutes where he is their only creator on the court?
Mike Brown doesn't have to try to answer any of these questions just yet. If the Knicks keep showing what they're capable of, breaking playoff records on what felt like a nightly basis over the course of the first two rounds, they'll quickly gain relevance, though.
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