After Game 3, the Knicks stressed that their defensive shortcomings, in particular missing assignments and not being as connected, had to be corrected.
It took them a half, but they found their defensive mojo in time.
After getting tattooed for 76 first-half points, the Knicks shut down the Spurs over the final 24 minutes, keying the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history, a hard-to-believe 107-106 victory. Over the last 6:24, they held the Spurs to seven points, moving to within one win of their first championship in 53 years.
“Really, we didn’t change much. We basically kept the same game plan,” coach Mike Brown said. “But defensively, we just did it [better] for longer stretches, and we were really in tune to what we were supposed to be doing. Our level of physicality increased without sending them to the free-throw line as well, which is huge.”
San Antonio put on a shooting display in the first half, making 14 3-pointers in 26 attempts. Some of it was impressive shot-making, but a lot of it was the Knicks’ inability to defend the Spurs. There were so many open looks from deep, partly due to the Knicks overcommitting to Victor Wembanyama. But their inability to stop the ball was particularly evident. The Spurs had 17 assists in the first half and plenty of balance, four players scoring at least 13 points.
“We needed to show them that first half was a fluke,” Jose Alvarado said.
They certainly did. The second half was a vastly different story. The Spurs were limited to 30 points, committed nine turnovers and shot 3-for-17 from 3-point range.
“Our contests were better, just 1 percent better,” OG Anunoby said. “Getting out faster and then finishing possessions with rebounds.”
The Knicks did it with a small lineup, Alvarado in the backcourt with Jalen Brunson for a good chunk of the fourth quarter. Wembanyana missed 11 of 14 shots, and was held to eight points. San Antonio only had four points in the paint after halftime.
“That’s unreal, and doing that especially in the fourth quarter,” Josh Hart said, referring to the defensive effort over the final two periods. “We were able to get stops without fouling, and that fueled our offense.”