The New York Knicks will have a prime opportunity to show that their NBA Finals case is no Cinderella story.
March begins with a bang for the Knicks, who tip off the last full month of the NBA season with an interconference clash against the surging San Antonio Spurs on Sunday at Madison Square Garden. It’s the first chapter of a metropolitan gauntlet to open March, as the Knicks will face six games against active postseason competition over the next nine days.
The Knicks enter with a bit of momentum after Friday night, when they beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 127-98, at Fiserv Forum, the closer of a three-game road trip. Jalen Brunson set an early tone with 22 points in the first period, becoming the 18th Knick to surpass 7,000 tallies in his metropolitan career. Brunson finished the game with 27 points while OG Anunoby kept the Bucks at bay with 24 more.
New York will be tasked with ending the NBA’s longest active winning streak on Sunday, as the Spurs have prevailed in 11 in a row. The latest entry was a 126-110 decision over the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday night at Barclays Center. St. John’s alum and Staten Island native Julian Champagnie enjoyed a sterling homecoming, putting up 26 points in the one-sided triumph.
Officially, this is the second meeting between the Knicks and Spurs this season, but the two sides originally squared off in the NBA Cup final back on Dec. 16. The Knicks put up a 124-113 tally in Las Vegas to secure the in-season title, paced by a 28-point outing from Anunoby and a 16-point advantage in the final period.
San Antonio found vengeance just over two weeks later, defending its home floor with a 134-132 victory at Frost Bank Center on New Year’s Eve. Champagnie and an ailing Victor Wembanyama combined for 77 points in the win, which saw San Antonio flip the comeback script on the Knicks, beating them by 11 over the last dozen.
What: San Antonio Spurs (43-16) @ New York Knicks (38-22)
Where: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
When: Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, ABC
Who’s Favored: SAS -2.5
Keep An Eye On: Mitchell Robinson
True to its previous, Greg Popovich-led form, the Spurs have enjoyed the antics of depth stars to re-establish their contending dominance. Even so, it’s generally accepted that they flow through the efforts of franchise face Wembanyama—and the same could be quietly said about the tenured Mitchell Robinson and his own paint work.
The Knicks have a 9-4 record when Robinson plays at least 21 minutes, but he needed only 18 to neutralize Wembanyama in Sin City. There, Robinson took the “City of Second Chances” moniker quite literally, gathering 10 of his 15 rebounds on the offensive front.
While a good bit of interior attention has lingered on Towns, Robinson continues to prove his value against the Association’s elite. Yet another epic test awaits in the form of Wembanyama’s now-annual visit.
Spur to Watch: Dylan Harper
It’s probably too late for Harper, the New Jersey native chosen second overall in the most recent draft, to swipe the Rookie of the Year title from Cooper Flagg or Kon Knueppel, but a fantastic February hinted at his backcourt prowess.
The 19-year-old posted the fifth-best net rating among men who appeared in at least 10 contests and 20 minutes per game in the prior month, trailing only Wembanyama, Champagnie, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Ausar Thompson.
Harper has had a positive double-figure plus/minus in five of his last eight games and has 22 assists in the most recent quartet. Such an emergence is perhaps another reason why the Spurs opted to move on from experienced depth star Jeremy Sochan, who has since signed with the Knicks to take on a similarly fringe role.
They Said It
“It’s important to battle through adversity. In a playoff setting, you may lose one, you’ve got to bounce back and get the next one, and we’ve done a good job of showing we can bounce back quickly. It’s a good sign for us, but consistency is everything. As long as we can keep building off this momentum and keep building off this mindset, we can be the best team we can be come April.”—Towns on the Milwaukee win after a loss in Cleveland (h/t Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News)
“I heard about the Christmas game last year. I felt like there was probably a little something there. The first time we saw them [this year] was in the championship of a tournament. That’ll help you find a reason to, not necessarily dislike somebody, but you’re playing for a little bit more.” —Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox on the budding Knicks-Spurs rivalry (h/t Jared Schwartz, New York Post)
Prediction
The reactionary class in the NBA social sphere will hardly heed the message, but no narrative will be killed off or fully strengthened on Sunday. All the Knicks can do is handle the “now” of their situation, and that currently entails making a statement on their home floor against a surging Western contender.
The idea that the Knicks are overmatched against any elite opponent has been blown out of proportion, but this is a whole new animal that they’re dealing with. Expect rationality to go out the window no matter the result, but a spirited effort effort should at least gauge in-house concerns about team toughness … even if its not enough to curtail the rowdiness on the River Walk.
