Final 7:30: Jalen Brunson 13 San Antonio Spurs 9

In the first half, Castle and Harper had big advantages over their defenders and Wemby did enough to make NY uncomfortable. Second half, NY shut off every one’s water and every Knick stepped up big, limited SA to a 40 pt second half.

Have never been a “dude is a KILLER” person for the shot volume guys, even great ones like Kobe. But Brunson is one guy that I’ll live and die with forever, even when he’s got 8 pts on 25 shots. You just know he’ll make the most incredible shots in clutch time.

My god, that transition finish from Brunson against two good Spurs defenders was *filthy*

My quibble with the Knicks, during their not so great stretches, are the erratic performance of these early 4th quarter lineups. Got some great stuff from OG, but some wild erratic offense from Alvarado & Deuce.

Knicks scored 2 points in the first five and a half minutes of the third quarter, 21 points in the next four plus minutes to tie the game. Also get a break after not getting any in the first half when Deuce banks in a corner three.

NY with rhythm on offense means they can punish SA immediately when Brunson passes out of a high double involving Wemby near midcourt. Credit to the Spurs defense, but NY ball movement is just sludgy right now.

Predicted the Knicks would come up way short in Game 1, but process is quite bad in the second half. Not sure how NY can get back with this little from Hart and OG.

Even Chuck thought KAT didn’t get calls on several drives, and he’s not one to cut KAT much slack. Clearly jersey pulls on both KAT and Brunson are fair game.

Alvarado was a lifeline for NY when the bench was scuffling. But he and his teammates gave up too much on the corners to the Spurs. Both teams give up corner 3s but SA executed much better to get good ones.

Apart from the worries about Brunson, Knicks have to be alarmed at how badly their bench started. Plenty of time to right the ship, but my biggest fear pre-series is SA would have much more force with their bench than NY would.

Seeing a lot of “Knicks are losing the non-Wemby minutes” , but it’s just as accurate to say they’ve lost the Shamet/Mitch Rob minutes in a big way so far.

this is good basketball I am hyperventilating

Happy for De’Aaron Fox, played through a high ankle sprain and was tough as nails, even if his performances were spotty and Spurs fans online were shitting on him. Came through big in Game 7 and was calm in the highest pressure situations.

Shai on the Spurs: “they have the makeup (of a great team), you don’t beat us if you don’t have the makeup”. Having a good postgame press conference given a tough Game 7 loss, lot of thoughtfulness in his comments.

Alex Caruso only played 30+ minutes all season twice: the regular season opener & Game 1 of the WCF, both overtime games. Played *39* minutes in a rough Game 7, a desperate sign that Daigneault had very few options he trusted beyond SGA.

Knicks are in for a rude awakening, Wemby or no Wemby, facing a team with no obvious targets to attack unlike their previous Eastern opponents. That said, Spurs are in for a challenge facing this loaded an offense, much more versatile than what OKC with no J-Dub could muster.

Going to go against the grain a bit and say the extreme focus on Chet is a tad overdone, Spurs were always a horrible matchup for him — he was never going to go basket for basket w/Wemby. Now with that said, being *that* unproductive in Game 7 was a horrible look.

Let this be a reminder of how special LeBron and Steph are. We might have another guy who deserves mention in a similar sentence but none of the other folks we've seen in a long long time have.

Spurs took that Game 7, was not given to them at all. Only had seven turnovers against the best defense for the first 40 minutes. Even with five turnovers in the last 6 minutes they more than hung on, they buried the Thunder, wore them out. Kudos.

Kornet had a similar chase down block on a Thunder fast break in the regular season that was a big play in a Spurs win. One of the best Spurs acquisitions, good to see him healthy again.

Spurs making four above the break threes in the fourth, and still getting up and down the floor harder and faster pretty much tells you OKC will need a miracle to salvage this one.

No second half lead changes in the series apart from Game 1 and Game 7, and yet, I agree totally.

Feels like Daigneault is reaching with some of these lineups, trying to find something that can work to help SGA, from McCain to K Will. Coming up zeroes as the Spurs build their lead.

SGA sees Champagnie on him after Castle’s been rubbed off a screen, he goes after him HARD. Made some ridiculous jumpers.

Alpha narratives can be reductive but that was an awesome alpha quarter for SGA. *However* he had no support, and two big Fox 3s along with a transition basket and a tough Wemby finish keep OKC in a hole.

Shai is a gorgeous basketball player and I think everyone who derides him as a foul merchant is a philistine.

Thought it might be a full 48 tonight for SGA, but Daigneault smartly realizes that’s not a winning strategy, lifts him after the first minute of the second.

McCain is still raw, but he has made some incredibly important shots all series to keep his team in it.

Not sure any single defender on OKC can handle Castle…Castle’s biggest enemy is his own handle & erratic decision making. But just a monster with surprising craft going downhill.

OKC’s ability to problem-solve opponents as their playoff series progress may be akin to solving different equations on a calculator. But with OKC’s leaning so heavily on SGA (along with the Spurs’ sheer force), feels like the calculator’s keys have jammed and they’re running real low on options.

Great sports day with Game 7 and the Champions League Final, and I even love the accompanying banter (to a point). But let’s be real, all talk about “Today Is A Win for Football” or “Ethical Hoops Wins” is monumental BS and strictly troll fodder.

pure pettiness sprinkled with aesthetics but if I had to rank all the Arsenal players based on who I prefer to miss the final penalty I would have picked Gabriel 11 times

It’s possible I’m being premature, but after ducking media in Game 5 and that postgame interview after Game 6, starting to wonder if Wemby is going into full heel mode with the media.

For such a classic WCF series, I have seen way too much of Nikola Topic and Kelly Olynyk.

I’d still favor OKC playing at home in a Game 7, but SGA having to carry this kind of usage the entire series against the Spurs defense…have to wonder. If the Spurs approach Game 7 with more force and focus than they did Game 5, I’d be really worried for the Thunder.

The Thunder have dropped out of the Great American State Fair lineup.

Think we’re heading for a Game 7, and there’s still four minutes left in the third quarter.

J Dub is just a bystander tonight, game for him to go on the hamstring but he isn’t doing anything. Harper on the other hand, looks super lively and that adductor doesn’t seem to be bothering him at all.

Even if the threes don’t fall the way they did in the first half, Spurs are playing with more juice and have made enough tweaks to their actions to get OKC off balance. Thunder aren’t disrupting SA’s rhythm the way they did in Game 5, Spurs with only 6 turnovers so far.

The series is awesome because of the teams, not just the stars, but SGA going one-on-one with Wemby was extremely cool, if only for one possession.

I love McCain, but his game will really evolve when he’s capable of making a pass after creating a seam in the defense and drawing defenders toward him.

Jared McCain has gotten touched up by Mason Plumlee and Bismack Biyombo. He's at the free throw line, so there's enough time to get hip checked by Kelly Olynyk

If OKC survives this series and plays NY, as a Knick fan I won’t be dreading facing SGA, Dort, McCain. It will be Hartenstein, no joke. Was genuinely bummed when he had to leave New York, such a tough dude and winning player.

SGA can’t even make a jumper, but his teammates are still flying around and making plays (Hartenstein most of all). Wemby is a tourist, Harper is a tourist, Spurs don’t look up for making this a tight one as it winds down.

SGA has gotten a good amount of rest this game and is coming off sitting the entire 4th quarter of Gm4. But he looks visibly weary on those stepbacks & drives — wonder if he’s wearing down. McCain & Hartenstein as secondary options are helping him in the 4th.

Fox, Harper, Vassell all look like they left their energy back in San Antonio. Probably injuries in the case of the first two as well, but OKC has done a much better job of keeping them from inflicting damage even w/the extreme focus on Wemby.

Even though it’s a double digit lead for OKC and there were a lot of 2nd quarter whistles, the tension in every possession in that half was palpable. Such a riveting series, like watching multiple Game 7s.

Starting lineup for Daigneault a big fail so far, neither Dort nor McCain capable of producing anything, and SGA still has to wade through masses of defenders.

So happy for this entire damn team, what a run. Yeah they’ll be big underdogs in the finals, but this is a legit group, connected in a special way, on an incredible playoff heater. Such a joy to watch.