{"id":1969687,"date":"2026-06-03T09:00:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T06:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1969687"},"modified":"2026-06-03T09:00:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T06:00:29","slug":"knicks-at-spurs-game-1-odds-san-antonio-favored-in-nba-finals-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1969687","title":{"rendered":"Knicks at Spurs Game 1 odds: San Antonio favored in NBA Finals opener"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

This is one of the most anticipated NBA Finals in several years. The New York Knicks represent the biggest city in the country and haven\u2019t won a championship in more than 50 years. Meanwhile, the San Antonio Spurs, winners of five championships since 1999, have the sport\u2019s largest star, literally, in Victor Wembanyama.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

There are plenty of easy storylines between the Knicks looking to end a title drought and the Spurs potentially starting up another dynasty run led by a big man. There\u2019s also plenty of viewing interest in seeing the 7-foot-4 Wembanyama play in the NBA Finals at the most iconic venue in the NBA.<\/p>\n

The series doesn\u2019t start in Madison Square Garden, though. It starts in San Antonio.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

The Spurs are favored at home in Game 1 and to win the series<\/a>. It all starts Wednesday night from the Front Bank Center.<\/p>\n

Game 1: New York Knicks at San Antonio Spurs<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

Time: <\/strong>Wednesday, 8:30 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

TV:\u00a0<\/strong>ABC<\/p>\n

Series odds:\u00a0<\/strong>Spurs -190, Knicks +160<\/p>\n

This is the fourth meeting between these teams this season and the second time they\u2019ve played with a trophy on the line. The Knicks won the NBA Cup final on Dec. 16, 124-113, but Wemby was in only his second game back from a calf injury that caused him to miss 12 games. He was on a minutes restriction, didn\u2019t start and played for only 25 minutes (and managed to score 18 points anyway).<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

{“endpoint”:”https:\/\/api-prd-nyt.theathletic.com\/graphql”}<\/p>\n

On New Year\u2019s Eve, the Spurs won 134-132 at home behind 36 points from Julian Champagnie, 31 from Wemby and 26 from De\u2019Aaron Fox. In the most recent game on March 1, Champagnie scored three, and Fox scored seven in a 114-89 loss.<\/p>\n

Do regular-season meetings, even an NBA Cup final, matter when talking about the NBA Finals? The Cup final was almost six months ago. The last meeting was over three months ago.<\/p>\n

At the very least, the NBA Cup victory means the Knicks have a chance to, in soccer parlance, \u201cdo the double.\u201d The Los Angeles Lakers won the first Cup in 2024 and then lost in the first round of the playoffs. The Milwaukee Bucks won it last year, beating eventual NBA Finals champion Oklahoma City in the final, and then also lost in the first round.<\/p>\n

The Knicks have the chance to become the first to win both in the same season. Whether that in time becomes a prestigious list or just the answer to a trivia question remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

As for Wednesday\u2019s game, the Spurs are favored by 4.5 points at home. The Knicks come in as the hotter team with 11 straight wins, but the Spurs are a massive step up in competition from what New York faced in the Eastern Conference. San Antonio won 62 games in the regular season and just beat the defending champions on the road in a Game 7 to get here.<\/p>\n

The old \u201crest vs. rust\u201d argument also comes into play here. The Spurs have had three days off since that emotional win in Oklahoma City on Saturday, while the Knicks last played nine days ago. Will the Spurs be weary and emotionally spent, or will the Knicks be rusty?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is one of the most anticipated NBA Finals in several years. The New York Knicks represent the biggest city in the country and haven\u2019t won a championship in more than 50 years. Meanwhile, the San Antonio Spurs, winners of five championships since 1999, have the sport\u2019s largest star, literally, in Victor Wembanyama. Advertisement There […]<\/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-1969687","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\/1969687","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=1969687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969687\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1969687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1969687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1969687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}