Jalen Brunson’s game-high 30 points help the Knicks seal a Game 1 victory in the 2026 NBA Finals.<\/p>\n
SAN ANTONIO \u2013 The score was tied when New York Knicks All-NBA guard Jalen Brunson checked back into Game 1<\/a> of the 2026 NBA Finals<\/a> with 7:37 remaining in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n Coming out of a timeout, Brunson got the ball near halfcourt, drove left and into the lane and lofted a left-handed scoop<\/a> shot. It was the first two points of a personal 8-0 run for Brunson and part of a huge fourth quarter from the Knicks\u2019 point guard, who found his offensive touch at the right time, helping the Knicks to a 105-95 victory against the San Antonio Spurs.<\/p>\n Brunson finished with 30 points on 12-for-31 shooting \u2013 not the most efficient scoring performance. However, he scored 13 points in the fourth quarter, making 5-of-9 shots, including his only 3-point attempt<\/a> and produced the offense necessary to take a 1-0 series lead.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a gamer, man,\u201d said Knicks coach Mike Brown. \u201cIn the biggest moments, he shows up, and that\u2019s what MVPs are supposed to do. We put the ball in his hands and said we are going to live and die with him. And he got it done for us, and that\u2019s happened time after time after time. He got to his spots and he made plays.<\/p>\n The Moment<\/p>\n The Knicks erased a 14-point deficit in the third quarter and were locked in a tight back-and-forth. After Brunson\u2019s scoop, he made two<\/a> free throws<\/a> and made another left-handed layup<\/a>, splitting two defenders through the middle of the paint. He closed out the run with one more left-handed layup<\/a> as Knicks center Mitchell Robinson screened San Antonio\u2019s Victor Wembanyama preventing the 7-foot-4 Kia Defensive Player of the Year<\/a> from contesting the shot.<\/p>\n \u201cMost importantly, knowing we\u2019re on the road, and knowing my teammates have my back, I think that\u2019s the biggest thing in an environment like this,\u201d Brunson said. \u201cThe trust they have in me and the trust I have in them, it\u2019s got us to this point. I mean, I\u2019m very thankful for them every single night we go out there together.\u201d<\/p>\n That final layup put the Knicks up 94-86 with 6:07 remaining in the fourth.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a tremendous player that\u2019s skilled, picks his spots, knows his angles, shoots contested shots without being sped up,\u201d said Spurs coach Mitch Johnson. \u201cHe\u2019s a phenomenal player. We just got to keep making him work.<\/p>\n \u201cAgain, he had a phenomenal game. He got going there, had a few in a row. Thirty points on 31 shots is something that you probably want to keep making him work for those points. Some other stuff we can probably control more than him making or missing shots.\u201d<\/p>\n Big buckets keep coming<\/p>\n Jalen Brunson puts on a gutsy display late in the game as the Knicks rally to take Game 1 of the NBA Finals<\/p>\n The Spurs weren\u2019t finished, taking a 95-94 lead with 2:16 remaining after Wembanyama made two free<\/a> throws<\/a>. On the Knicks\u2019 next possession, OG Anunoby missed a 3-pointer<\/a> and Brunson tipped the long rebound<\/a> to Mikal Bridges. Brunson drifted into the right corner, Bridges delivered a pass and Brunson knocked down a 3<\/a> for a 97-95 Knicks lead.<\/p>\n San Antonio never scored again as New York closed the game on an 11-0 run. Brunson scored one more basket during that run \u2013 a difficult, off-balance 15-footer<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the ball in his hands, I\u2019m never surprised,\u201d said Knicks center-forward Karl-Anthony Towns. \u201cI tell you, that last shot, I think it was a shoot-floater. That was nasty, I ain\u2019t going to lie.\u201d<\/p>\n 1st half frustrations stay in the locker room<\/p>\n It was vintage Brunson in the fourth quarter \u2013 dissecting the defense, using the angles, converting clever shots in the paint and taking control of the game.<\/p>\n \u201cLike the young people say, he went to his bag tonight and got it done,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n Brunson is one of the league\u2019s top closeout performers \u2013 he won Kia Clutch Player of the Year<\/a> in 2024-25 \u2013 and is the leading fourth-quarter scorer in this year\u2019s Playoffs, averaging 9.8 points in the final period. It\u2019s a continuation of his career-long clutch\u00a0postseason success:<\/p>\n Overall in the fourth quarter of playoff games, Brunson is 41-for-70 from the field (58.5%), including 9-for-14 on 3s; and a stunning 27-for-29 on free throws<\/p>\n Early in the third quarter on Wednesday, Brunson, who committed three of his four turnovers in the first half, was sitting on a 5-for-18 shooting night. He went 7-for-13 the rest of the way.<\/p>\n \u201cContinue to trust the things I\u2019ve worked on my entire life,\u201d Brunson said. \u201cI think my teammates having the confidence in me also gives me an extra boost.\u201d<\/p>\n Brunson also left the court twice in pain after leg and ankle tweaks but returned both times \u2013 once after San Antonio\u2019s Harrison Barnes fell into Brunson\u2019s right knee and once when he turned his ankle as he landed after a shot attempt.<\/p>\n \u201cJalen came back, tough as nails, and to me he didn\u2019t seem like he had any effect afterwards,\u201d Brown said. \u201cI haven\u2019t talked to our medical people. He didn\u2019t look like it was bothering him down the stretch, and so I think he\u2019s OK.\u201d<\/p>\n Said Towns: \u201cWhen we all saw him limp off, we were worried not only because he\u2019s Jalen Brunson but more because he\u2019s our brother and we are a family in our locker room. But when we were on the court and I saw him walking back out to the bench, it was a relief just to know he\u2019s safe.\u201d<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n Jeff Zillgitt has covered the NBA since 2008. You can email him at\u00a0jzillgitt@nba.com<\/a>, find\u00a0his archive here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0follow him on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jalen Brunson’s game-high 30 points help the Knicks seal a Game 1 victory in the 2026 NBA Finals.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":683441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,297368,99],"class_list":["post-683440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-nba-finals-game-1-jalen-brunson","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683440","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=683440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/683441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=683440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=683440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=683440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}