SAN ANTONIO (Talk1370.com) -- The NBA Finals are upon us, with the San Antonio Spurs set to battle the New York Knicks.
Stop me if you're feeling a little bit of déjà vu.
The Victor Wembanyama-led Spurs, making their first Finals appearance since 2014, will host the Knicks, who enter the series boasting a record-breaking playoff point differential of 19.4 per game and are led by Jalen Brunson and big man Karl-Anthony Towns.
The last time the Knicks were in the Finals? 1999 - against the Spurs.
Think back to the days of The Matrix and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me being in the theatres... your Star Wars childhood being ruined by Jar Jar Binks... and "All Star" by Smash Mouth playing on the radio for the millionth time. What you might not remember is the strike-impacted 1998-99 NBA season, which didn't start until February 1999 and was shortened to just 50 regular season games.
The 1999 Finals were a bit of a foregone conclusion for the Spurs, who had the Twin Towers of Tim Duncan and David Robinson in their second year together, while the Knicks made it as the first eight seed to reach the championship series. The Spurs won the series 4-1 and raised their first of five championship banners.
The Knicks, on the other hand, haven't won a championship since 1973, against the Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain-led Lakers. Jalen Brunson’s father was a point guard for the Knicks in 1999, and Ron Harper was finishing his career with the Lakers. And Wemby hadn’t even been born yet.
Fast forward to 2026. It may be the Spurs and the Knicks, but nothing else is the same... not the music, not the movies, and certainly not the basketball. Players like Wembanyama and Towns shooting threes in the 90s would have been a reason for a coach to sit you on the bench. In the 1999 Finals, the Spurs averaged 85 and the Knicks had 80. This year the Knicks have scored more than 80 in two separate playoff games and the Spurs are averaging over 115 points a game during the postseason.
Head to head, the Knicks beat the Spurs two games to one including an NBA Cup win. Alongside the Golden State Warriors, New York was the only franchise to defeat Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs twice this season. Their most recent encounter resulted in a decisive 114-89 victory for the Knicks, a game in which six New York players reached double-digit scoring while Wembanyama recorded 25 points in the defeat.
Wembanyama enters the Finals averaging 23.2 points, 10.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 3.5 blocks per game across 17 postseason appearances. Significant contributions are also expected from Stephon Castle, Julian Champagnie, and Dylan Harper. Harper is the son of former NBA guard Ron Harper, who played for 15 seasons and won five NBA championships as a member of the Chicago Bulls alongside Michael Jordan.
Game 1: Wednesday at San Antonio
Game 2: Friday at San Antonio
Game 3: Monday, June 8, at New York
Game 4: Wednesday, June 10, at New York
*Game 5: Saturday, June 13, at San Antonio
*Game 6: Tuesday, June 16, at New York
*Game 7: Friday, June 19, at San Antonio
(*if necessary)
