NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� The last time lost a game, they didn’t do it again for another month and a half.
When they fell behind against Atlanta in the first round of , desperation turned into domination. The Knicks won 13 straight games, many of them blowouts, in one of the most impressive postseason stretches in NBA history.
They don’t need to do anything so dramatic now. With a 2-1 lead over the San Antonio Spurs , a simple 2-2 record the rest of the season would give New York its first championship since 1973.
So after dropping Game 3, the Knicks don’t need an overhaul. But they do need to be better.
鈥淲e have a veteran group. Nobody is quote-unquote panicking or anything like that,鈥� Knicks coach Mike Brown said Tuesday. “Everybody is disappointed that we didn鈥檛 go out and execute and play to what we feel our standard is. That鈥檚 not taking anything away from San Antonio, but we feel like we can play a lot better than what we did.
鈥淲e鈥檙e looking forward to going out on the floor and showing it.鈥�
Game 4 is Wednesday in a series in which the road team has won all three games, only the second time that’s happened in the NBA Finals.
The Spurs jumped on the Knicks right at the start and then outplayed them late in their 115-111 victory on Monday. Victor Wembanyama on both sides with 32 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three blocked shots.
Showing no fear of a rowdy road environment in the first NBA Finals game in Madison Square Garden since 1999, just as they didn’t in winning a Game 7 on the road against defending champion Oklahoma City in the Western Conference finals, Wembanyama and the Spurs again looked like a team that might be able to win a title without first experiencing the growing pains that other young groups have.
鈥淲e will see. But my bet would be yes, it鈥檚 possible,鈥� Wembanyama said.
The Spurs thought so even after dropping two games in San Antonio, which means to win the title they would have to become the first team to do so after starting 0-2 in its own building. It’s a belief built from having one of the best players in the world and loads of talent around him, a group so confident that the players didn’t think much of their accomplishment Monday.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want us to get too happy about one win and get satisfied and take our foot off the gas a little bit for the next game,鈥� said guard Stephon Castle, who scored 23 points. 鈥淏ut I think since the end of Game 2 we鈥檝e still been confident that we鈥檙e going to win this series, and that鈥檚 what we plan to do.鈥�
The Knicks’ first loss since April 23 didn’t send them scrambling for solutions, because they were constantly looking for ways to improve even when all they did was win.
鈥淓ach game, no matter what the situation is, we鈥檙e growing as a team. I think we鈥檙e learning and we鈥檙e getting better 鈥� obviously before last night,鈥� Jalen Brunson said. 鈥淣o matter what the situation is, we鈥檙e going to stick together. We鈥檙e going to execute, we鈥檙e going to be better. That鈥檚 just how our mindset has to be going forward.鈥�
There are things to fix. Karl-Anthony Towns isn’t scoring in the fourth quarter. Wembanyama has clearly figured out ways to hurt the Knicks in the last 1 1/2 games after struggling by his standards before that. They have to turn the ball over less and defend better without fouling 鈥� no matter .
The Knicks did enough of those things well to run off the second-longest winning streak in postseason history. Now they have to recover quickly from a loss, or they’ll head to San Antonio for Game 5 with the series tied.
鈥淲e have, what, 13 games in a row, 50 days of film to show what it looks like when we鈥檙e at our best. So we鈥檝e got good film,鈥� Towns said. 鈥淲e鈥檒l get back to our fundamentals, what makes us great, what made us great, and get back to work.”
___
This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of Stephon Castle’s first name.
___
AP NBA:
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
