A fourth quarter cakewalk against the Riverwalk provided the ultimate jackpot for the New York Knicks in Las Vegas.
The Knicks became the newest winners of the NBA Cup, the Association’s in-season competition, on Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena with a 124-113 win over the San Antonio Spurs in the championship exhibition. A plus-16 advantage in the final frame ate away at what was a double-figure lead for San Antonio as the Knicks become the NBA’s newest in-season champions.
Tuesday’s win creates the Knicks’ first officially recognized NBA title since their Atlantic Division title in 2012-13.
OG Anunoby scored 28 points to lead the way for New York while Jalen Brunson had 25 tallies and eight assists before he was recognized as the NBA Cup’s MVP. As a team, New York took advantage of Las Vegas’ moniker as the “City of Second Chances” to the tune of 23 offensive rebounds, yielding 32 extra points. Ten new opportunities landed in the arms of Mitchell Robinson alone.
Tuesday’s finale featured two teams poised to benefit from whatever fleeting value the NBA Cup carries: whereas the Knicks dealt with a lengthy title drought, the Spurs had a chance to make a statement with Victor Wembanyama coming off the bench as he did during Saturday’s upset victory over Oklahoma City.
The latest rematch of the 1999 NBA Finals lived up to its billing in front of a sellout crowd in Sin City. Despite Wembanyama playing limited minutes, it was San Antonio that broke away first, taking the first double-figure lead just past the midway mark of the third period.
Behind Anunoby’s offensive breakout, the Knicks made sure the Spurs remained within striking distance. But a Wembanyama triple seemed to serve as a lasting momentum shift just before the two-minute mark, the onslaught proving painful in more ways than one with Karl-Anthony Towns (16 points, 11 rebounds) nursing a calf injury on the bench.
Fortunes became to flip shortly after: New York enjoyed threes from Jordan Clarkson and Tyler Kolek before the penultimate frame let out, offering a sneak preview of what was to come over the last dozen. Those successful threes tipped off a 25-7 run that stretched to just before the fourth quarter’s midway mark, the show stolen by the Knicks’ depth stars.
With Anunoby and Brunson leading the way, Clarkson, Kolek, and Robinson backed up the premier men in style: Clarkson had eight points in the final period (including two more clutch threes), Kolek was tied with Brunson for a team-best plus-16 when he was on the floor, and Robinson hauled in six of the 11 offensive boards gathered in the fourth. New York took a dozen more shots than San Antonio in the fourth, which featured only five sinks for the Spurs.
San Antonio could at least take solace in the fact that Tuesday’s game did not count toward the regular season standings and that they’ll have another at the Knicks on New Year’s Eve at home. Dylan Harper led the runner-ups with with 21 points, most of them earned on five three-pointers.
Free from Cup duties, yet bringing home the top honor with them, the Knicks have another chance at fresher revenge on Thursday night when they face the Indiana Pacers for the first time since last spring’s Eastern Conference Finals (7 p.m. ET, MSG).
