The New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs were tied at the Garden late in the fourth quarter of Game 1 of the NBA Finals on June 4, 2026, after New York wiped away a double-digit San Antonio lead and turned the game into a sprint to the finish.
For the people searching David Robinson, the draw was the game’s swing and the stars inside it. Jalen Brunson had gone to the locker room late in the first quarter after Harrison Barnes was pushed into his right knee, then came back in the second quarter with that knee heavily wrapped. He also took another hit when Luke Kornet stepped on his left ankle while contesting a shot, but he stayed in the game as the Knicks kept pressing.
San Antonio had made the first real separation. Julian Champagnie and Dylan Harper supplied scoring spurts in the first half, then the Spurs built a double-digit lead in the third quarter. The Knicks answered anyway. They cut into the margin while Victor Wembanyama was on the bench, then kept the momentum after he returned. Josh Hart broke up a pass to Wembanyama and Brunson pushed the other way for a transition basket as New York kept the game level.
The swing mattered because it was not a slow climb back. It was a 20-point turnaround built in real time against a team that had already shown it could score in waves, and it came with only two timeouts left for San Antonio and 6:34 on the clock. A fan even ran onto the court to take a selfie with Wembanyama before security detained him, another odd break in a game that had already been defined by interruptions and momentum shifts.
What happens next is the part that still hangs over Game 1: whether Brunson’s knee and ankle survive the night as the Knicks try to finish the comeback. New York has already shown it can erase a deficit against San Antonio, and the Spurs have already shown they can build one. Late in the Finals opener, the question is which side can hold together long enough to finish it.
