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Photo Courtesy \/ YouTube Rusty Buckets<\/p>\n Photo Courtesy \/ YouTube Rusty Buckets<\/p>\n
After six weeks of playoff basketball, the 80th edition of the NBA Finals is upon us.<\/p>\n
The San Antonio Spurs, led by Victor Wembanyama, ended the Oklahoma City Thunder\u2019s hopes in seven games in the Western Conference Finals, returning to the Finals for the first time since raising their fifth banner in 2014.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Waiting for them is the red-hot New York Knicks, who charged through the Eastern Conference, winning 11 consecutive games by an average of 23.8 points to reach the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 1999, these teams both met in the finals, with the Knicks being the first eighth seeded team at the time to make the Finals, meeting the one seeded Spurs, led by David Robinson and Tim Duncan. Eventually the Spurs would win in five games, sparking the beginning of their dynasty and the first of five titles under legendary coach Gregg Popovich.<\/p>\n
27 years later, times have changed. The Knicks are led by Jalen Brunson, who has already placed himself on the Mount Rushmore of all-time great Knicks alongside names like Willis Reed, Walt Frazier and Patrick Ewing.<\/p>\n
Whichever team can rip off four more victories will etch itself into NBA history in different, but massively significant ways.<\/p>\n
The Spurs have quickly transformed from a rebuilding franchise into one of the NBA\u2019s most dangerous teams. Despite entering the playoffs with almost no postseason experience, the young core of the aforementioned Wembanyama, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper, their poise under pressure has shown that the Spurs\u2019 future may already be arriving sooner than expected.<\/p>\n
San Antonio\u2019s youth, talent and confidence have made them one of the most exciting stories in basketball. And if the Spurs can win four more games, the Wembanyama Era may be officially upon us sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, for the Knicks, they\u2019ve reached this moment with a balanced team effort led by Jalen Brunson. While Brunson has been the star of the playoff run, players like Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns have all made major contributions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bridges has bounced back after early criticism, Anunoby has provided efficient scoring, and Towns\u2019 ability to stretch the floor could create problems for the Spurs\u2019 defense.<\/p>\n
If New York can get the four wins they need, this team will reach immortality around the city, and the parade through Manhattan\u2019s Canyon of Heroes will truly be a once-in-a-lifetime event.<\/p>\n
These teams have met three times in the regular season, with the main matchup being in the NBA Cup Championship, where the Knicks rallied to beat the Spurs, 124-113. However, when it comes to the Larry O\u2019Brien trophy, it\u2019s a clean slate for both teams, and everything is on the line.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Will the Spurs and Victor Wembanyama cement his early rise to NBA dominance, or will Jalen Brunson captain the Knicks\u2019 first NBA title in 53 years? The Finals will start in San Antonio on June 3rd, at 8:30 PM on ABC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo Courtesy \/ YouTube Rusty Buckets After six weeks of playoff basketball, the 80th edition of the NBA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":682551,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-682550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=682550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/682551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=682550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=682550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=682550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}