SAN ANTONIO — Bad leg? Bad shooting night?
It doesn’t matter. Jalen Brunson is a bad, bad man.
You knew it was coming.
Anyone who has watched the Knicks this postseason should have known what was coming.
They erased a 14-point third-quarter deficit to steal Game 1 of the NBA Finals with a 105-95 win over the Spurs on Wednesday night.
The familiar script felt like it truly got started midway through the fourth quarter.
The score was tied 86-86 with 7:37 left in the game. Jalen Brunson checked back into the game.
The Knicks have delivered this same script so many times before.
Right away, Brunson got into the paint and made a layup to reestablish the Knicks lead. After a stop, Josh Hart corralled the rebound, led a fast break and dished to Brunson, who drew a foul and made both free throws to put the Knicks up four. Hart stole the ball on the other end, started another fast break and once again passed to Brunson, who finished it off.
The Knicks led by six as Spurs coach Mitch Johnson called timeout. The first real audible “Let’s go Knicks” chants could be heard inside the Frost Bank Center.
Another stop after the timeout. Another Brunson bucket. It was an 8-0 Knicks run, with all points scored by Brunson.
It was like clockwork. The Brunson takeover was inevitable.
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But the Spurs immediately responded with a 9-0 run — seven of which were scored by Victor Wembanyama — to retake the lead.
No problem.
Brunson batted OG Anunoby’s missed 3-pointer to Mikal Bridges, got it back, then drilled a 3-pointer to put the Knicks back ahead. De’Aaron Fox missed on the other end and Bridges subsequently got fouled and hit two free throws. Wembanyama drilled off his leg and Brunson hit a circus-like fallaway over Devin Vassell to put the Knicks up six. That felt like enough.
The Knicks closed on an 11-0 run. They outscored the Spurs by eight points in the fourth quarter. Brunson had 13 points in that quarter.
He hurt his right leg in the first quarter, checked out with 1:27 left in the period and went back to the locker room. Landry Shamet pushed Harrison Barnes into Brunson’s right leg. He returned with 8:03 left in the second quarter.
Brunson was 7-for-22 and 1-for-8 from 3-point range across the first three quarters. As he seemingly always does, he figured it out down the stretch.
The Knicks went 1-for-9 from the field to start the third quarter and had just two points in the first 5:10 of the period. That they only trailed by 13 was fortunate.
Wembanyama soon after checked out and limped to the bench, appearing to tweak his left leg. The Knicks promptly went on an 11-4 run with him out of the game. Their comeback continued even when he returned and by the end of the quarter, they had managed to tie it. Karl-Anthony Towns powered it with 10 points in the quarter. He finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds.
Shamet delivered 13 points off the bench. OG Anunoby finally came alive and scored 12 points in the fourth quarter. He finished with 17.
