For San Antonio, the NBA Cup final was a lesson – and a harsh one.
The Spurs watched an 11-point third-quarter cushion dissolve Tuesday night, undone by a brutal closing stretch in a 124-113 loss to the New York Knicks in the Cup championship game.
San Antonio was in control at 92-81 with two minutes left in the third quarter when Victor Wembanyama, still easing back from a strained left calf and again coming off the bench, buried a deep 3-pointer. It would be one of the Spurs’ last answers.
From there, the game flipped completely.
The Knicks closed on a 43-21 run, while San Antonio went ice-cold, shooting 6 of 23 over the final 14 minutes.
The Spurs were battered on the glass, outrebounded 25-8, and were overpowered inside, getting outscored 18-4 in the paint during that stretch.
The numbers were lopsided, the momentum irreversible – and that’s where the final slipped away.
“It’s do-or-die, I think, out there,” said Spurs rookie Dylan Harper, who led San Antonio with 21 points off the bench. “You’ve seen the level of intensity rise for us and for them. Obviously, they came out with the win. But for us, it’s about not taking anything for granted. I think that’s the biggest thing. When we all go out there, we all know we’ve got to play 110% to win things like this.”
The Knicks split about $5 million in additional bonus money, pushing their total to $530,933 per player for winning the Cup.
The Spurs had to settle – such as it is – for $212,373 each.
“I’m assuming we’re feeling pretty frustrated because we lost the game,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “I also feel that after 25 games, I believe we’ve shown some signs that we can be a pretty good team. We’ve also shown that we have a lot of areas for improvement. That’s where we are today and hopefully tomorrow. We can continue to get a little bit better and minimize some of the things we need to improve on.”
The Spurs are 18-7; Tuesday’s loss does not count toward their regular-season record.
They have had four of their key players – Wembanyama, Harper, De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle – together for exactly two games: the Cup semifinal win over Oklahoma City on Saturday and the Cup final loss to the Knicks.
The only teams in the Western Conference with better records than the Spurs are Oklahoma City and Denver.
There was still plenty to like, even on a night that didn’t go San Antonio’s way.
Wembanyama was emotional afterward for reasons unrelated to the outcome. He revealed after the game that his grandmother died earlier in the day.
Asked about the loss, he framed it as a learning experience.
“It’s the best practice for important games,” Wembanyama said. “Of course, our focus is already on the playoffs. The playoffs are the biggest time of the year, so I guess it’s good that we got this experience today.”
