NEW YORK — Stephon Castle feels the San Antonio Spurs didn’t accomplish much Monday night.
Even so, they did avoid falling into a historically unfriendly hole while ensuring the NBA Finals would get at least some of the length warranted by what has been a compelling matchup thus far.
Victor Wembanyama produced 32 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three blocks Monday night for the Spurs, who got back into the NBA Finals by beating the red-hot New York Knicks 115-111 in Game 3.
The Knicks still lead the best-of-seven series two games to one. Game 4 is scheduled for Wednesday night in New York.
Castle added 23 points — 18 in the first half and five key points late in the fourth quarter — as the Spurs avoided falling into an 0-3 hole. No NBA team has ever overcome a three-games-to-none deficit in a best-of-seven series.
“I feel like we still haven’t really done anything,” Castle said. “Obviously we’re still down 2-1 and we’re looking forward to the next 48 minutes.
“Obviously it feels good to win, especially on the road after dropping two bad ones. But I think our confidence has been the same throughout this series regardless of what happens.”
Dylan Harper scored 13 points off the San Antonio bench while starters Julian Champagnie (12 points), De’Aaron Fox (12 points) and Devin Vassell (11 points) all got into double figures. Fox added eight assists.
Jalen Brunson scored 32 points on 11-of-25 shooting for the Knicks, whose 13-game winning streak — the second-longest postseason winning streak in NBA history — was snapped. The 2017 Golden State Warriors won their first 15 playoff games en route to the title.
“I tell the guys, it’s a seven-game series for a reason,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “They are a great team. They are well-coached. They have an iconic player. It’s not going to be easy.”
OG Anunoby had 28 points, hitting 9 of 13 from the floor, while Josh Hart put up 16 points. Karl-Anthony Towns chipped in with 11 points, and reserve Jordan Clarkson scored 10 points.
New York’s previous loss was a 109-108 setback against the Atlanta Hawks in Game 3 of an Eastern Conference first-round series on April 23.
“Didn’t do what got us 13 straight wins in a row — that’s how you lose a game,” Towns said. “We didn’t do what we’ve been doing for 13 (games). We decided to do something different, and it ain’t going to work.”
This is just the second NBA Finals in which the road team won the first three games. The Chicago Bulls took the first two games on the road in 1993 before the Phoenix Suns won Game 3. The Bulls won the series in six games.
“At home, it’s really like playing six against five — in here, it felt like five against six,” Wembanyama said with a grin. “It really shows what teams are made of.”
The Spurs showed some resilience Monday, when they squandered a 12-point first-half lead and fell behind 64-57 entering halftime. San Antonio blew a 14-point lead in a 105-95 loss in Game 1 and a 12-point lead in a 105-104 loss in Game 2.
On Monday, Champagnie scored the first six points of the second half, and the Spurs shot 50% (10 of 20) in the third while forcing four turnovers. San Antonio took the lead for good at 79-76 on Wembanyama’s 3-pointer with 5:02 left in the period.
“I thought we showed better poise at times,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “I thought we finished the game still with some things that need improvement, but stronger than we did the last few games.”
Hart said, “You knew they were going to come out with a sense of urgency and a sense of desperation. We should have started the game off better. We should have started the third quarter off better.”
The teams shot a combined 27.1% (13-for-48) in the fourth. The Spurs maintained at least a two-possession lead for more than 10 minutes, but Brunson and Anunoby hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions in the final 34 seconds to pull the Knicks within 113-111 with 9.4 seconds to go.
New York had been 0-for-10 from 3-point range in the final period before those two treys.
Following a timeout, Castle sank two free throws with 6.8 seconds left for a four-point edge, essentially sealing the outcome.
The Spurs shot 20-for-24 from the foul line in the second half while the Knicks were just 6-for-8 — a discrepancy Brown pointed out to open his postgame press conference.
“Coach Mitch Johnson and the Spurs, they won the game tonight — they came and took the game,” Brown said. “But I will say this: I never thought I would be in the NBA Finals and see a team get 24 free-throw attempts in the second half to another team’s eight.”
–Jerry Beach, Field Level Media
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