The New York Knicks hosted the San Antonio Spurs for Game 3 of the NBA Finals. New York won game two 105-104 in San Antonio taking a 2-0 series lead. The Garden crowd was hyped and even had President Donald Trump in attendance.
De’Aaron Fox threw a lob to Victor Wembanyama for the slam to get the scoring started. The Spurs would jump out to a 7-0 start after a Devin Vassell three. Josh Hart made a wide open three to get the Knicks in the scoring column. The Spurs jumped out to a 19-9 lead after a Wemby and-one. Hart went right to the basket against Dylan Harper to force a Spurs timeout. After the Hart layup Luke Kornet ran into him and Hart shoved him. Hart would receive a technical foul. San Antonio was up 33-22 at the end of the first quarter.
Jordan Clarkson, who did not play in game two made a corner three. Karl-Anthony Towns made a tough layup over Fox and yelled right at him. OG Anunoby made a wing three to put the Garden crowd in a frenzy and forced a San Antonio timeout. Jalen Brunson hit a three over Wemby that gave the Knicks their first lead of the game. Hart and Brunson made back to back threes towards the end of the second quarter. Stephon Castle had 18 points in the first half. Anunoby had 17 in the first half and the Knicks led 64-57 at halftime.
Julian Champagnie made a three and also drew the foul on Brunson. It was ruled a flagrant foul on Brunson due to a reckless close out that didn’t give Champagnie landing space. Brunson flipped in a wild circus shot for the and-one. Wemby hit a deep wing three. Clarkson hit a fallaway three with the shot clock winding down. Harper would answer with a three of his own. The Spurs led 92-91 at the end of the third quarter.
Castle threw a lob to Wembanyama to begin the fourth quarter. Brunson hit a side step layup to force a Spurs timeout. Castle hit a deep three with the shot clock winding down to make it a seven point lead for the Spurs. Brunson made a three to make it a three point game. Fox would hit a foul line jumper over Anunoby to make it a five point game. Anunoby hit a corner three over Harper. Castle made two clutch free throws and San Antonio won 115-111.
San Antonio snapped the Knicks’ 13-playoff-game winning streak which is second all-time.
Wembanyama led the way for the Spurs with 32 points, eight rebounds, and six assists. Castle had 23 points, five rebounds, and five assists. Champagnie and Fox both had 12. Harper had 13 but on 5-of-18 shooting from the field. For the Knicks, Brunson led the way with 32 points. Anunoby had 28 points and Hart had 16 points. Clarkson in 13 minutes off the bench had 10 points. Towns didn’t take a lot of shots and only finished with 11 points. Towns hasn’t scored a single point in the fourth quarter for the past three games.
New York leads the series 2-1. Game four will be in the Garden Wednesday, June 10 at 8:30 pm.
