Knicks guard Jalen Brunson dropped 30 points to lead the team to its 12th straight win.
New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns yells during the second half of Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs in San Antonio on Wednesday. Eric Gay / AP
SAVEWITH A NBCUNIVERSAL PROFILE
Updated
June 03, 2026, 11:22 PM EDT
By Andrew Greif
The New York Knicks took a 1-0 lead in the 2026 NBA Finals, beating San Antonio 105-95 on Wednesday despite playing on the road and with their star guard hobbled at times.
New York star Jalen Brunson left in the first quarter after San Antonio’s Harrison Barnes crashed into his right knee, and he was hobbled further in the second quarter when his left ankle was stepped on. Brunson did not have a good shooting performance through three quarters. Yet in the fourth quarter alone, he scored 13 points, including an improbable, high-arching jump shot with 37 seconds left that gave New York a six-point lead that effectively ended Game 1.
By scoring 11 unanswered points to close the game, the Knicks secured their 12th consecutive postseason victory. They are 7-1 on the road in these playoffs.
Brunson finished with 30 points, joining Willis Reed as the only players in franchise history to score 30 or more points in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. He also was instrumental in the Knicks’ committing just one turnover in the second half.
“I’ll be all right,” he told the ESPN broadcast after the game.
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson called Brunson a “tremendous player.”
Spurs star Victor Wembanyama had 26 points but made just six of his 21 shots, including two of his nine 3-point attempts. He added 12 rebounds but had six turnovers.
“I’m gonna figure it out,” Wembanyama said. “I mean, I was bad tonight. It’s not more complicated than that.”
Dylan Harper scored 16 points for San Antonio off the bench, but the rest of the team’s reserves combined for just four points.
Game 2 is Friday.
The Spurs led by as many as 14 points in the third quarter, but the Knicks tied it less than five minutes later by driving to the rim repeatedly as soon as Wembanyama took a seat to rest, removing San Antonio’s 7-foot-4, shot-altering deterrent.
New York’s Karl-Anthony Towns scored 10 of his 17 points in the third quarter and helped his team take a slim lead. At the fourth quarter’s midway point, the Knicks had grown their advantage to eight points, at 94-86, to mark a 22-point turnaround.
Despite being one of the youngest teams ever to make the Finals, the Spurs displayed the kind of resolve usually reserved for much more playoff-tested teams. Nine unanswered points by the Spurs gave them back a 95-94 lead with two minutes to play in regulation. New York’s four-minute scoreless stretch ended on the next possession when Brunson made a 3-pointer to give New York back a 97-95 lead.
One unsung hero for New York was Josh Hart, who grabbed 15 rebounds and helped the Knicks outscore San Antonio by 22 points in his 27 minutes on the court. NEW UPDATES
11h ago / 11:22 PM EDT
Knicks fans at MSG celebrate Game 1 win from afar
Tim RohanTim Rohan is a sports editor and writer for NBC News.
Knicks fans have waited a long time for a team like this.
11h ago / 11:15 PM EDT
Final: New York beats San Antonio 105-95 to win Game 1
Tim RohanTim Rohan is a sports editor and writer for NBC News.
Jalen Brunson made two clutch shots in the final minutes, and finished the game with 30 points to lead the Knicks to victory on the road in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Brunson appeared to suffer knee and ankle injuries in the first half, at one point even retreating to the locker room during the game.
He struggled with his shot early on, too, but kept shooting and finished 12-of-31 from the field. Karl-Anthony Towns scored 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to help the Knicks’ cause.
San Antonio’s star forward Victor Wembanyama also had a rough shooting night. He scored 26 points on 6-of-21 shooting from the field. His point total was propped up by trips to the free throw line, where he shot 12-of-13.
