{"id":1972080,"date":"2026-06-04T14:30:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T11:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1972080"},"modified":"2026-06-04T14:30:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T11:30:24","slug":"the-bounce-the-knicks-still-cant-lose-plus-where-might-giannis-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1972080","title":{"rendered":"The Bounce: The Knicks still can\u2019t lose. Plus, where might Giannis land?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Bounce Newslette<\/b>r<\/strong> \":basketball:\"<\/span> | This is The Athletic\u2019s<\/em> daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here<\/a> to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

During last night\u2019s first quarter of Game 1 of the NBA Finals, the San Antonio Spurs ran a video on the jumbotron. The Coyote mascot bashed three stone pieces with a sledgehammer. The stones had the Blazers, Wolves and Thunder logos for each playoff round. Then the Coyote smashed one with the Knicks logo. I don\u2019t think you can do that in Game 1!<\/p>\n

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Dandy dozen<\/h3>\n

Knicks have won 12 straight playoff games<\/strong><\/p>\n

Back in 1999, the Spurs reeled off a 12-game winning streak during the postseason. They lost Game 2 in the first round to Minnesota, then rattled off a dozen straight by closing out the Wolves in four (remember, they were five-game series then), sweeping the Lakers and Trail Blazers in the next two rounds and winning the first two games of the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks. Then the Knicks snapped that streak in Game 3 before the Spurs closed out and won the title in Game 5.<\/p>\n

Fast-forward to the present day, and the Knicks are following a very similar path with their own 12-game playoff winning streak. After going down 2-1 to Atlanta in Game 3 of the first round, they\u2019ve won out \u2014 beating the Hawks in six, sweeping the 76ers and Cavaliers and taking Game 1 against the Spurs, 105-95<\/a>. It\u2019s their 11th victory by double digits during this streak.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last night\u2019s win feels a little bit different for two reasons:<\/p>\n

1) It\u2019s the NBA Finals. I mean \u2026 of course. This is the biggest stage, and the Knicks coming back from being down 14 in the second half in San Antonio is easily their biggest win of the postseason.<\/p>\n

2) It\u2019s the quality of the opponent. Plenty of people have dismissed New York\u2019s playoff dominance or watered it down because of the teams they played. Well, the Spurs are about as good as it gets, and the Knicks beat them too.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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I was in the building for Game 1, and there were big, loud patches of Knicks fans who infiltrated the Frost Bank Center. They\u2019d start a Knicks chant, and then the Spurs fans would try to drown out the noise. It became more and more difficult for them when the Knicks went on their fourth-quarter run to take the lead. And then there was the fan who ran on the court in the fourth quarter to take a selfie with Victor Wembanyama.<\/a><\/p>\n

There\u2019s so much to be dissected here. Let\u2019s do a Game 1 Stock Report overreaction!<\/p>\n

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\ud83d\udcc8 First-half Dylan Harper: <\/strong>No part of him seemed like he was a rookie in his first finals minutes. He scored 12 points off the bench in the first half and only needed five shots to do it.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcc9 Second-half Harper: <\/strong>The mysticism went away, and the Spurs were pretty bad with him on the floor. He had four points on five shots in the third, and then was mostly inconsequential in the fourth before Mitch Johnson subbed him out.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcc8 First-half Julian Champagnie: <\/strong>He was looking like Ray Allen on the Miami Heat. He had 15 points, going 5-of-6 from deep.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcc9 Second-half Champagnie: <\/strong>He had one point on 0-of-5 shooting, including 0-of-4 from deep. Still a good game, overall, but the Spurs needed some makes in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcc9 First-three-quarters Jalen Brunson: <\/strong>He hurt his leg, then hurt his ankle on another play. He was hobbled and even went back to the locker room at one point. Brunson\u2019s play on the court was also rough. He had 17 points but needed 22 shots to get them.<\/p>\n

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\ud83d\udcc8 Fourth-quarter Brunson: <\/strong>As our James Edwards III put it, he\u2019s simply one of the great clutch scorers the sport has ever seen<\/a>. Brunson found his rhythm and helped the Knicks close out the game with 13 fourth-quarter points on 5-of-9 shooting. Yeah, he was 12-of-31 overall for his 30 points, but the way he closed was special<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

\ud83d\udcc9 First-three-quarters OG Anunoby: <\/strong>I legitimately forgot Anunoby was on the court for most of this game. He didn\u2019t guard Wemby much. He didn\u2019t hit shots. He looked uncomfortable on the floor.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcc8 Fourth-quarter Anunoby: <\/strong>This was the same Anunoby we saw close out the NBA Cup championship against the Spurs in Las Vegas. Brunson got a lot of shine for his fourth, but Anunoby joined him with 12 points in the final quarter.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcc9 First-three-quarters Wembanyama: <\/strong>He had 15 points, five rebounds, three blocks, four turnovers and 3-of-13 shooting in the first three quarters. He flat-out said, \u201cI was bad tonight<\/a>,\u201d in his postgame news conference.<\/p>\n

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\ud83d\udcc8 Fourth-quarter Wemby: <\/strong>He got it together in the fourth with 11 points and seven rebounds, but he didn\u2019t close the game well. It was just enough to feel like he was headed in the right direction. He said after the game that he wasn\u2019t worried and it was all correctable. I believe him. It\u2019s ridiculous that you can have 26 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks in your first NBA Finals game and it\u2019s a bad one. But 6-of-21 from the field and six turnovers with the home loss will do that.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcc8 Karl-Anthony Towns: <\/strong>It didn\u2019t always work, but Towns was aggressive in attacking Wemby. Also in defending him. He did a great job all night and finished with 16 points, 12 rebounds and four assists. He was so good in the game that it led to \u2026<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcc9 Chet Holmgren: <\/strong>Yeah, he caught strays all night online about how KAT was going at Wemby, something Holmgren never did during the Spurs-Thunder series. It\u2019s tough to be the topic of negative play in a game you didn\u2019t play in.<\/p>\n

Playoff Panic Meter:<\/strong> \ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udea8 for San Antonio.<\/p>\n

When is Game 2?<\/strong> Tomorrow at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC.<\/p>\n

Is it a must-win for San Antonio? <\/strong>Yes, absolutely. Can\u2019t go down 0-2 heading to New York.<\/p>\n

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The last 24<\/h3>\n

\u271d Sister act.<\/strong> The Knicks have celebrity fans. But the Spurs have nuns on their side, and our Mirin Fader has their story<\/a>.
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\n\ud83e\udea3 Brunson buckets. <\/strong>Rustin Dodd waxed about Brunson\u2019s play. What it means to have his mindset<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\ud83c\udf32 Get it done. <\/strong>Remember that whole Clippers investigation? Adam Silver says the NBA needs to wrap it up<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\ud83d\uddfd Legendary. <\/strong>The New York Times\u2019 Matt Flegenheimer watched Game 1 alongside two-time Knicks champion and former U.S. senator Bill Bradley. He had plenty to say<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\ud83d\udd2c Feverish. <\/strong>A sideline spat with her coach that went viral shows how much Caitlin Clark is under the microscope in Indiana<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\ud83d\udd0a \u201cNBA Daily.\u201d <\/strong>Watch and listen to a breakdown of last night\u2019s game<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stream the NBA on Fubo (<\/em>try it for free!<\/a>)<\/em>\u00a0and catch out-of-market games on\u00a0<\/em>League Pass<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Gone-is?<\/h3>\n

The Giannis situation could be resolved soon<\/strong><\/p>\n

There seems to be a self-imposed draft-day deadline for the Milwaukee Bucks deciding whether to move on from the Giannis Antetokounmpo era. Of course, they could always try to keep him and sign him to an extension in October. But all the smoke leading toward a \u201cmutual\u201d breakup between the two parties has to be coming from fire.<\/strong> At least, that\u2019s what everybody around the NBA seems to believe.<\/p>\n

The Bucks have been open about wanting a resolution, one way or another, and getting it done by draft day makes the most sense. If you\u2019re going to leverage the trade asset that everybody wants (Giannis), then you\u2019re going to try to acquire the highest draft picks immediately. Sam Amick and Eric Nehm broke down the lay of the Giannis land yesterday,<\/a> outlining everything they\u2019re hearing about a potential landing spot.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s go over some of it.<\/p>\n

Thunder: <\/strong>This was immediately the prevailing thought when the Thunder dropped Game 7 to the Spurs. Holmgren\u2019s stock has never been lower, but it\u2019s still high enough to believe you can use him in a trade to get a significant return. Could that return be Giannis? OKC has 12 first-round picks and 13 second-round picks between now and 2033. That\u2019s enough to entice the Bucks. But there\u2019s no evidence the Thunder are looking to do something dramatic like that. Plus, their cap situation is about to be really tough starting this summer.<\/p>\n

Heat: <\/strong>This was considered to be the best deal before the deadline, and it still is. That is \u2026 as long as someone like OKC doesn\u2019t decide it wants Giannis. Tyler Herro and Kel\u2019el Ware would likely be part of the package, along with picks. And Giannis is said to have some interest in Miami. The Heat have been interested since 2020.<\/p>\n

Celtics: <\/strong>This has been a team that\u2019s popped up recently, and there\u2019s some confusion about where the interest is here. Are the Celtics interested<\/a>? Is Giannis interested in going there? Would he sign an extension? Does Jaylen Brown have to go to the Bucks in this scenario, or would he go somewhere else in a three-team deal?<\/p>\n

Anybody in the top five of the draft? <\/strong>We should talk about this since the draft is the soft deadline. I think we can rule out the Wizards, Jazz, Grizzlies and Clippers. But the Bulls at No. 4 might be able to get in the mix if they wanted to. I just can\u2019t fathom the Bucks wanting to keep Giannis in the division.<\/p>\n

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82 and oh<\/h3>\n

The new addiction for basketball sickos<\/strong><\/p>\n

My group chats have been peppered with screenshots about this the last two days. This website, 82-0.com,<\/a> is a little game in which you push a \u201cspin\u201d button, and then it comes up with a franchise and a decade to choose from. Then you have to fill out the traditional positions of point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward and center with each spin. The goal is to construct a team that goes 82-0, which is determined by some algorithm this website has.<\/p>\n

It \u2026 is maddening. I became so frustrated by the \u201clogic\u201d of the engine determining fake records that I swore off making another starting five. The problem is, that pledge to quit was not met by my willpower. Quite the opposite. I kept going until a lineup of Luka Don\u010di\u0107 (Mavericks in the 2020s), Michael Jordan (Bulls in the 1990s), Julius Erving (76ers in the 1970s), Chris Webber (Kings in the 1990s) and Bill Russell (Celtics in the 1960s) gave me my perfect record.<\/p>\n

Some of the pitfalls of these options include landing the Kings in the 2020s or the New Jersey\/Brooklyn Nets in the 1980s. Surprisingly, the Pistons don\u2019t have a lot to offer outside of the 1980s and 1990s. You might be thinking to yourself, they won a title in 2004, so that can\u2019t be. I don\u2019t think this system respects defense or the Ben Wallace of it all. I think you just have to go off points per game to find perfect success.<\/p>\n

This website will ruin your day. Maybe your week. It is going to frustrate you to no end. You will scream that the makers don\u2019t know what they\u2019re talking about. And you\u2019ll probably keep spinning because it\u2019s so addicting. In fact, I\u2019ll do one more right now.<\/p>\n

Lakers in the \u201820s? Luka at point guard. Warriors in the \u201810s? Steph Curry at shooting guard. Off to an amazing start. Nuggets in the \u201890s? Let\u2019s put Dikembe Mutombo at center. Dallas in the 2000s? Have to go with Dirk Nowitzki at power forward. Last roll is Pistons in the \u201800s. Grant Hill is our small forward. What an unbeatable team!<\/p>\n

Wait, how does this team go 70-12?! I hate this website.<\/p>\n

Better spin it again \u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Bounce Newsletter | This is The Athletic\u2019s daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox. During last night\u2019s first quarter of Game 1 of the NBA Finals, the San Antonio Spurs ran a video on the jumbotron. The Coyote mascot bashed three stone pieces with a sledgehammer. The […]<\/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-1972080","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\/1972080","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=1972080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1972080\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1972080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1972080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1972080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}