NBA Matchups: June 3

New York Knicks at San Antonio Spurs

Team Totals: Knicks 107.5, Spurs 111.5

Injury Report:

Spurs projected starters: De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, Julian Champagnie, Victor Wembanyama

Knicks projected starters: Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, Karl-Anthony Towns

Offensive Ranks: Spurs 3rd (4th halfcourt), Knicks 4th (7th halfcourt)

Defensive Ranks: Spurs 3rd (4th halfcourt), Knicks 10th (14th halfcourt)

Season Series: 2-1 Knicks (including Cup game)

Noteworthy Missed Games: Josh Hart (1), Landry Shamet (1), Deuce McBride (1), Mitch Robinson (1)

Mitch quotes: Said his guys don’t care about experience, said Kornet was awesome while Wemby was disciplined, called Kornet’s block the turning point of Game 7, said Champagnie was the unsung hero.  

Brown quotes: Said they just have to make Wemby work, said he wants to reward Shamet for his play and it makes him giddy, said they need to be physical and mentally tough against the Spurs, said Mitchell Robinson did individual work on June 1, said Anunoby should be first-team all-defense because of his versatility (Wemby?), said the Spurs and Fox definitely want to beat his ass (was Spurs assistant, used to coach Fox in SAC), said Mitch will have “something” on his hand in games and the medical staff has to figure it out.

Team stats and notes:

*NBA Cup rematch! Just an insane series from the Spurs, and their top-end talent really stood out. Let’s start with the Knicks, though. The Knicks get an extremely tough test after their historic run, but let’s hit some stats on just how ridiculous it was. Their 11-game run of +262 is the largest differential in NBA history (regular season or playoffs). During this span, their offense put up 131.2 points per 100 possessions (not counting garbage time), including their red-hot 136.1 points per 100 in first quarters. They have been in so many blowouts lately that Mikal Bridges hasn’t even played in five fourth quarters (Jalen Brunson four, Karl-Anthony Towns three, Josh Hart four, OG Anunoby four). They have four rotation players with 70+ TS% in this span (Landry Shamet 87.6, Anunoby 72.6, KAT 70.9, Bridges 70.1), and their entire rotation had a 21.7+ net rating. It’s truly insane. Oh, and their defense allowed just 103.3 points per 100. They did get a little lucky with teams shooting just 29.6% from deep against them, while they made 42.4% from deep. The Knicks did allow 27.2 C&S attempts over this span, and opponents just missed them. New York has kept opponents in the halfcourt a ridiculous amount, with just 9.5% of possessions being in transition. There’s just no way they can keep this up, but that’s what we said last round. Both of these teams have owned transition with the Spurs putting up 28.4 points per game there, while the Knicks were at 24.1 (Raptors second at 26.7). That 28.4 points in transition is the most since the Bucks in 2019 (29.9; no other team over 26 since it was tracked in 2015), and the Spurs ranked first in the postseason in transition frequency at 16.9% (not counting play-in games). The Knicks have been excellent at limiting transition in the playoffs at just 17.1 PPG (Spurs averaging 19.4; that was pushed up in the OKC series). San Antonio was absurd with their halfcourt defense at 86.3 points per 100 allowed in the playoffs. The Knicks have been pounding the paint throughout the playoffs with a league-high 38.5% of their shots at the rim, and the Spurs had by far the league’s best rim defense at 55.5% (also first in short-mid shots at 38.0%). The Knicks haven’t been that great with their rim defense in the postseason, and they didn’t really face many rim-heavy teams during their run. New York is going to have a really tough time in the Victor Wembanyama minutes, and the Spurs are at +16.7 in net rating with Wemby on the court in their playoff run (+10.7 against OKC). Wemby had a +3.3 net rating in his 60 minutes against the Knicks this year (-28.5 off), but he was -18 in the Cup game over 25 minutes. Wemby just played 42 minutes in Game 7, and they might be willing to push him up again with the rest coming into this one. The Knicks didn’t have Landry Shamet or Deuce McBride for the Cup game (Josh Hart also missed a game).

Player stats and notes: