{"id":1957702,"date":"2026-05-27T10:29:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T07:29:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1957702"},"modified":"2026-05-27T10:29:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T07:29:20","slug":"will-the-knicks-match-up-better-against-the-thunder-or-spurs-in-nba-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1957702","title":{"rendered":"Will the Knicks match up better against the Thunder or Spurs in NBA Finals?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The New York Knicks\u2019 dominance has put them back in an advantageous situation.<\/p>\n

After sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals \u2014 which came right after dusting up the Philadelphia 76ers in four games in the second round \u2014 New York will be able to kick back and put its feet up for a week as it waits to see who survives the slugfest in the Western Conference finals.<\/p>\n

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As it pertains to the NBA Finals, though, the benefit of rest has been a bit overstated. The true value in the Knicks getting their work done early is that they go into the sport\u2019s final stage without injuries. Yes, the time off is huge. But even if the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs play a seven-game series, the winner will still get three days of rest before Game 1. It\u2019s not like the earlier rounds, where the turnaround time could be one day. In the NBA, a three-day break is a good amount of time. The Thunder and Spurs have to worry about potential injuries more than anything as they fight for the right to face the Knicks. That\u2019s where New York\u2019s real potential advantage comes into play.<\/p>\n

The Knicks, despite their record-setting playoff run, which includes 11-straight wins and an average margin of victory north of 23 points, will be in for a slobberknocker no matter who advances. But which of Oklahoma City or San Antonio is a more favorable opponent for New York?<\/p>\n

In my opinion, a finals against the Spurs would present the best chance for the Knicks to end their 53-year NBA title drought.<\/p>\n

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Let\u2019s get the elementary stuff out of the way: The Knicks haven\u2019t beaten the Thunder in three seasons. This iteration of New York\u2019s core has lost four games against this Oklahoma City group by an average of 12.3 points. Of course, regular-season records mean nothing, and the Knicks are a better and more confident team right now than they were at any point they\u2019ve faced the Thunder in the past \u2014 and Oklahoma City is dealing with key injuries that might not be resolved by the finals. But this Oklahoma City group, even if not at 100 percent, presents challenges that will give New York a tough time. We\u2019ll get into those soon.<\/p>\n

If you include the NBA Cup, the Knicks went 2-1 against the Spurs this season. Again, that shouldn\u2019t hold a ton of weight at this stage, as San Antonio is much better than it was in December when these two teams faced off in Las Vegas. However, the Knicks\u2019 experience should be an advantage against a youthful Spurs team wandering new territory.<\/p>\n

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And while the Knicks haven\u2019t been to the finals in 27 years, New York has a veteran group that has played in an excessive number of high-stakes games. San Antonio is going through those moments for the first time now. The Thunder have won a championship and thrived in the intensity that\u2019ll come in the next round. That will certainly play a factor.<\/p>\n

Now, let\u2019s get into the weeds a bit more. Both Oklahoma City and San Antonio possess two of the league\u2019s best defenses. In fact, the Thunder\u2019s defensive rating of 106.5 during the regular season falls just short of the Boston Celtics\u2019 decade-best rating of 106.2 during the 2021-22 campaign. No team in the regular season averaged more deflections or contested shots per game than Oklahoma City.<\/p>\n

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The Spurs also have a defense to keep the Knicks up at night. Victor Wembanyama is a defense in himself. His presence will have New York thinking twice about shooting routine shots. What\u2019s more, Stephon Castle might be one of the five best perimeter defenders in the league. Still, the Thunder have so many versatile and battle-tested defenders that work just as well individually as they do collectively that I believe it\u2019ll be hard for New York to generate consistent high-level offense.<\/p>\n

With that said, the Knicks\u2019 offense has been out of this world this postseason. They lead all playoff teams in field-goal percentage, 3-point percentage and assists per game. The movement has been crisp, and the willingness to share the ball has come naturally for a group that didn\u2019t always carry that trait.<\/p>\n

New York will be hard-pressed to continue scoring at that level in the championship. That\u2019s not a knock on the Knicks. It wasn\u2019t going to be this easy forever, and they have a defense good enough to make up for the inevitable offensive drop-off in the finals. But, yeah, the offense is going to hit some turbulence in one form or another.<\/p>\n

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Oklahoma City has the horses to be disruptive at the point of attack and stay attached to jerseys off the ball.<\/p>\n

The Thunder have no weak links defensively and have several guys capable of hounding Jalen Brunson and disrupting Karl-Anthony Towns\u2019 flow. There\u2019s no one for the Knicks to hunt like they could CJ McCollum, Jalen Johnson, Joel Embiid or James Harden. The Spurs are almost as bulletproof as Oklahoma City on that end of the floor, but the Thunder have a bit more versatility and are more seasoned. For example, Alex Caruso could guard Brunson on one possession and Towns the next.<\/p>\n

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Neither team will allow the Knicks to get the fast-break points that they generated against the lackadaisical Harden and the Cavaliers.<\/p>\n

As far as star power goes, New York is going to face one of the sport\u2019s headliners one way or another: Either the Thunder\u2019s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or the Spurs\u2019 Wembanyama. Both are dominant but, obviously, go about their work differently.<\/p>\n

I tend to lean toward elite guards in the postseason, and Gilgeous-Alexander is as good as it gets. It\u2019ll be hard for New York to slow him down without giving up open 3s to a group that, as of Game 4 of the Western Conference finals, is hitting 37.2 percent of their 3s in the playoffs. Mikal Bridges will have his work cut out for him, as Gilgeous-Alexander isn\u2019t as stationary as Harden or as small as Tyrese Maxey. The Oklahoma City guard is nearly as big as Bridges and is as crafty with the basketball as they come.<\/p>\n

New York\u2019s defense is set up in a way that makes it vulnerable to good 3-point looks, but none of its opponents in the East capitalized on those opportunities. The Hawks made just 31.2 percent of their 3s, while the 76ers converted 31.3 percent and the Cavaliers shot just 28.9 percent.<\/p>\n

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As for the Spurs, they\u2019ve also shot the 3-ball well this postseason, but I don\u2019t believe that will continue as these young guys\u2019 legs tire out. After all, San Antonio was a middle-of-the-pack 3-point shooting team in the regular season. It had only four players shooting above 36 percent from 3 (with a minimum of two attempts per game), and one of those was Harrison Barnes, who has been nonexistent on offense in these playoffs.<\/p>\n

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For comparison, the Thunder had six rotation players shooting above 36 percent from 3 with the same parameters during the regular season and have added more folks to that benchmark in these playoffs.<\/p>\n

No matter which team New York ends up facing, the finals will be a competitive affair. My guess is that the Knicks will go at least six games with either the Thunder or Spurs. New York\u2019s defense will have to carry the way from here on out.<\/p>\n

Oklahoma City presents the greatest challenge for the Knicks. The Thunder\u2019s perimeter defense sometimes feels impenetrable and is anchored on the back line by Chet Holmgren, one of the best rim protectors in basketball. The offense is centered around the back-to-back MVP, and their depth is the best in the NBA. And, maybe most importantly, Oklahoma City knows what it takes to be champions.<\/p>\n

The Spurs feel a year away, but they very well could knock off Oklahoma City en route to a rematch of the 1999 NBA Finals because Wembanyama is from another planet. Yet, even if that happens, San Antonio\u2019s inexperience will show in the next round. That\u2019s the biggest reason I think the Knicks would square up better against the Spurs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New York Knicks\u2019 dominance has put them back in an advantageous situation. After sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals \u2014 which came right after dusting up the Philadelphia 76ers in four games in the second round \u2014 New York will be able to kick back and put its feet up for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1957702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1957702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1957702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1957702\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1957702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1957702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1957702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}