{"id":132309,"date":"2026-06-08T10:04:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T16:04:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/the-knicks-try-to-move-to-the-brink-of-a-title-in-game-3-of-the-nba-finals-against-the-spurs\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T10:04:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T16:04:33","slug":"the-knicks-try-to-move-to-the-brink-of-a-title-in-game-3-of-the-nba-finals-against-the-spurs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/the-knicks-try-to-move-to-the-brink-of-a-title-in-game-3-of-the-nba-finals-against-the-spurs\/","title":{"rendered":"The Knicks try to move to the brink of a title in Game 3 of the NBA Finals against the Spurs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"New
New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson runs drills prior to Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series against the San Antonio Spurs, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo\/Ross D. Franklin)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Ross D. Franklin)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 The NBA Finals<\/a> are back in New York and the hype is unavoidable.<\/p>\n

The Knicks are two wins from their first championship since 1973 and it seems everyone in the city wants the chance to see it. Even President Donald Trump<\/a> will be on hand Monday night at Madison Square Garden for Game 3, along with fans who will pay exorbitant prices and endure lengthy lines to get in.<\/p>\n

It feels like more of a major event than any basketball game, and Victor Wembanyama<\/a> was asked if the chaos could be a distraction for his San Antonio Spurs.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot really,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it could be, but isolating myself is something I\u2019ve practiced over the years. I think I\u2019m good at it. So it\u2019s not a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Spurs have a big enough problem with their 2-0 deficit.<\/p>\n

No team has recovered to win the championship after losing the first two games of the NBA Finals at home, and no team in the 80-year history of the league has won any series after falling behind 3-0. So the Spurs need to win Monday.<\/p>\n

They had good chances in both games at home. San Antonio led by 14 points midway through the third quarter of Game 1,<\/a> then erased a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter to take the lead in the final minute of Game 2<\/a> before the Knicks rallied for a 105-104 victory.<\/p>\n

That was New York’s 13th consecutive victory, the second-longest winning streak in postseason history.<\/p>\n

Back at home, even the Knicks don’t know quite what to expect of the atmosphere for the first NBA Finals game at Madison Square Garden since 1999. But they know what to expect from the Spurs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, their best,\u201d center Karl-Anthony Towns said. \u201cEvery single game you expect their best. That\u2019s how you don\u2019t get caught in a way lacking. You go out there and you expect their best, so you want to bring your best. This is the NBA Finals. There\u2019s no time to take any game easy or to take any game lightly.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NBA<\/a><\/p>\n

\"San
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama laughs during practice prior to Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series against the New York Knicks, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo\/Ross D. Franklin)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Ross D. Franklin)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"New
New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns runs drills prior to Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series against the San Antonio Spurs, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo\/Ross D. Franklin)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Ross D. Franklin)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"San
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama shoots during practice prior to Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series against the New York Knicks, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo\/Ross D. Franklin)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Ross D. Franklin)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson runs drills prior to Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series against the San Antonio Spurs, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo\/Ross D. Franklin)(AP Photo\/Ross D. Franklin) NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 The NBA Finals are back in New York and the hype is unavoidable. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":132310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5734],"tags":[],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-132309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-associated-press"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132309"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=132309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}