(ThyBlackMan.com) The San Antonio Spurs are not dead yet, and that is the one thing the New York Knicks did not want to hear after Game 3.
After dropping the first two games of the NBA Finals at home, the Spurs walked into Madison Square Garden with their season leaning over the edge. One more loss, and this series would have felt almost finished. Not officially, but everybody watching would have known what time it was. Down 3-0 in the Finals is not a hole. That is a grave. San Antonio knew that, and for the first time in this series, they played with the kind of urgency that matched the moment.
The Spurs beat the Knicks 115-111, and that score does not fully explain what happened. This was not just a team sneaking out a win. This was a young team finally standing up in the middle of a loud building, against a confident opponent, with the whole basketball world watching. The Knicks still lead the series 2-1, but the mood changed. San Antonio gave itself life. New York still has control, but now the Knicks have to answer a question they probably did not want to face this soon. What happens if the Spurs have figured something out?
That is what made Game 3 so important. The Spurs did not play perfect basketball. They had stretches where New York pushed them around. They had moments where Madison Square Garden sounded ready to swallow them whole. The Knicks made runs, Jalen Brunson kept applying pressure, and the Garden crowd treated every basket like it was part of a championship parade. That is what the Knicks do. They make the game feel bigger, louder, heavier. They feed off that building, and for a while it looked like San Antonio might crack again.
But this time the Spurs did not go away.
Victor Wembanyama had to be more than a highlight player. He had to be the reason San Antonio still believed. That is a different burden. Everybody knows the talent. Everybody sees the length, the shot blocking, the handles, the range, and the way he can make basketball look unfair. But Finals basketball is not about how good you look in flashes. It is about how much force you can put on a game when the other team has studied you, bumped you, crowded you, and dared your teammates to beat them.
In Game 3, Wembanyama looked more like a franchise player carrying real weight. He was more aggressive. He did not spend the whole night floating around the perimeter trying to be pretty. He forced New York to deal with him. When he got the ball near the basket, the Knicks had problems. When he stretched the floor, they had to make uncomfortable choices. When he protected the rim, he changed possessions even when he did not block the shot. That is the kind of presence San Antonio needs if it is going to make this a real series.
But let us be honest. Wemby alone is not enough.
The Spurs needed other men to show up, and that is what made this win feel different. Stephon Castle gave San Antonio big minutes and big confidence. Young players can look good in the regular season, but the Finals will expose a man quickly. The lights are different. The mistakes are louder. Every possession feels like somebody is judging your whole career. Castle did not look scared of the moment. He played like a young brother who understood that the Spurs needed more than respect. They needed production.
De’Aaron Fox also mattered because San Antonio needs someone who can put pressure on the Knicks defense with speed and control. New York is too physical and too disciplined to let Wembanyama slowly pick them apart every possession. Somebody has to bend the defense. Somebody has to get downhill. Somebody has to create that little bit of panic that opens up everything else. Fox gives the Spurs that element, and when he is decisive, San Antonio looks much harder to guard.
The Knicks will look back at this game and know they let one get away. That does not mean they were terrible. They were not. Brunson still had his moments. New York still played with that grit that got them to this point. They still made San Antonio uncomfortable for long stretches. But the Knicks did not close the door when they had the chance. That is dangerous in the Finals. When you have a team down 2-0 and you are at home with a chance to put them in a 3-0 hole, you cannot let that team breathe.
Now the Spurs are breathing.
That does not mean San Antonio is suddenly the favorite. Let us not get carried away. The Knicks still have the series lead, and they still have the kind of team built for ugly playoff basketball. They defend. They rebound. They trust Brunson late. They have toughness all over the floor. They are not going to panic because of one loss. Tom Thibodeau teams do not usually fall apart emotionally. They may wear down, they may get stubborn, but they are not soft.
Still, Game 3 gave the Spurs something they did not have after Game 2. Belief.
That word gets thrown around too much in sports, but belief matters. When a team loses the first two games at home, doubt starts creeping in. Players may say the right things at the podium, but inside that locker room, everybody knows the truth. They know they wasted home court. They know history is leaning against them. They know the other team smells blood. One win does not erase all of that, but it does quiet the noise. It lets a team say, “We can beat these guys.” Not in theory. Not on paper. They actually did it.
The question now is whether the Spurs can do it again.
Game 4 will decide what this series really is. If the Knicks win Game 4, they go up 3-1, and San Antonio is right back in trouble. A 3-1 Finals deficit is a brutal place to live, especially after losing the first two at home. That would put the Spurs in a position where every mistake feels like the end of the season. But if San Antonio wins Game 4, this becomes a 2-2 series, and all the pressure shifts back to New York. Then Game 5 in San Antonio becomes a monster.
That is why I cannot call this a full comeback yet. I can call it a warning.
The Spurs have the best individual matchup problem in the series because nobody on New York can truly match Wembanyama when he is locked in. They can bother him. They can push him out. They can send help. They can make him work. But they cannot replicate him. That matters. In a long series, the team with the player nobody can solve always has a chance.
But San Antonio still has to grow up fast. Championship basketball asks hard questions. Can you win when your first option is being trapped? Can your role players make shots in hostile buildings? Can your young guys handle foul trouble, bad calls, and a crowd screaming at them? Can your veterans settle the game when it starts getting wild? Can you win two or three different styles of basketball in the same series?
The Spurs answered some of that in Game 3, but not all of it.
The Knicks also have some questions now. Can they keep Wembanyama from controlling the rhythm? Can Brunson keep carrying late-game offense without wearing down? Can New York avoid those empty stretches where the offense gets too predictable? Can they punish San Antonio enough when Wemby is away from the rim? Can they make the Spurs pay for being young?
That is the beauty of this series now. It finally feels alive.
Before Game 3, the Knicks had the clean story. They took both games in San Antonio. They came back to New York with control. Their crowd was ready. Their confidence was high. The Spurs looked like a talented young team that might have arrived one year too early. After Game 3, that story is not gone, but it has competition. Now the Spurs have a story too. Young team gets punched. Young team gets embarrassed at home. Young team walks into the Garden and punches back.
That is how Finals memories are made.
Do I think the Spurs can come back and win this series? Yes, I do. Any team with Wembanyama has a real chance if the series stays close. He is too talented, too different, and too capable of changing a game on both ends. If Castle keeps giving them fearless minutes, if Fox keeps attacking, and if San Antonio’s defense keeps tightening up, the Spurs can absolutely turn this into a seven-game fight.
Do I think they will win the NBA championship? I am not there yet.
Right now, I still lean Knicks because they have the lead, the toughness, the guard play, and the playoff scars. They have been through enough battles to understand that one loss does not change the whole mission. They also still have Brunson, and in the playoffs, having a guard who can create his own shot late is like having a good closer in baseball. It does not guarantee anything, but it lets everybody sleep a little better.
But San Antonio changed the conversation. That is what Game 3 did. The Spurs went from looking like a young team in trouble to looking like a dangerous team with a little blood back in its body. They are not chasing history with empty hope anymore. They have proof.
The Knicks should still feel good. They are up 2-1 in the NBA Finals. Most teams would take that every time. But they should not feel comfortable. Comfort is dangerous when Wembanyama is on the other side. Comfort is dangerous when a young team starts believing. Comfort is dangerous when a series that looked like it was leaning one way suddenly gets complicated.
San Antonio did not win the championship tonight. They did something almost as important.
They made the Knicks look over their shoulder.
Staff Writer; J.G. Lacour
Covering the NBA, NFL, college basketball, college football, and Major League Baseball from a Black man’s perspective. He loves the full world of sports, but the NFL remains his favorite.
Need to contact this bro, feel free to use this email address; JGLacour@ThyBlackMan.com.
