Published June 9, 2026
Stephon Castle feels the San Antonio Spurs didn’t do much on Monday night.
Still, they avoided falling into a historically disadvantageous hole and ensured that the NBA Finals would have at least some of the length guaranteed by previous enthralling matchups.
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On Monday night, Victor Wembaneyama returned to the NBA Finals with 32 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three blocks for the Spurs, who defeated the hard-fought New York Knicks 115-111 in Game 3.
The Knicks still lead 2-1 in the best-of-seven series. Game 4 is scheduled for Wednesday night in New York.
Castle added 23 points with 18 points in the first half and five crucial points late in the fourth quarter as the Spurs avoided falling into an 0-3 hole. No NBA team has ever overcome a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series.
“I feel like we haven’t done anything yet,” 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 after dropping two bad results on the road. But I think our confidence was the same throughout this series, no matter what happened.”
Dylan Harper scored 13 points off San Antonio’s bench, and starters Julien Champagnie (12 points), De’Aaron Fox (12 points) and Devin Vassell (11 points) all scored in double figures. Fox added eight assists.
Knicks’ Jalen Brunson scored 32 points on 11-of-25 shooting, ending his 13-game winning streak, the second-longest postseason winning streak in NBA history. The 2017 Golden State Warriors won their first 15 playoff games en route to the title.
“I tell our players, there’s a seven-game series for a reason,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “They’re a great team. They’re well-coached. They’ve got some iconic players. It’s not going to be easy.”
OG Anunoby scored 28 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the floor, and Josh Hart added 16 points. Karl-Anthony Towns scored 11 points and backup Jordan Clarkson had 10 points.
New York’s previous loss was a 109-108 loss to the Atlanta Hawks in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference first-round series on April 23.
“We didn’t do the things that gave us 13 straight wins. That’s how you lose games,” Towns said. “We didn’t do what we’ve been doing for 13 (games). We decided to do something different and it just doesn’t work.”
This is the second NBA Finals in which a road team won the first three games. In 1993, the Chicago Bulls won the first two games on the road, and the Phoenix Suns won the third game. The Bulls won the series in six games.
“At home it really felt like we were playing 6-on-5. Here it felt like 5-on-6,” Wenbanyama said with a laugh. “It gives you a good idea of what the team is made of.”
On Monday, the Spurs showed some resilience after losing a 12-point lead in the first half and trailing 64-57 at halftime. San Antonio lost the first game 105-95, giving up a 14-point lead, and lost the second game 105-104, giving up a 12-point lead.
On Monday, Champagnie scored the first six points of the second half and the Spurs shot 50 percent (10-of-20) from the third while forcing four turnovers. San Antonio took the lead for good at 79-76 on Wenbanyama’s 3-pointer with 5:02 left in the period.
“At times I thought we showed more composure,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “I thought we were able to finish the game stronger than the last few games, although there were still some things we needed to improve on.”
“We knew they were going to come out with a sense of urgency and desperation,” Hart said. “We should have started the game better. We should have started the third quarter better.”
Both teams had a combined shooting percentage of 27.1% (13 of 48) in the fourth. The Spurs held a lead of at least two possessions for more than 10 minutes, but Brunson and Anunoby hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions with 34 seconds left, putting the Knicks within 113-111 with 9.4 seconds left.
Before those two treys, New York was 0-of-10 from 3-point range in the final period.
After a timeout, Castle hit two free throws to get within four points with 6.8 seconds left, effectively sealing the game.
The Spurs made 20 of 24 shots from the foul line in the second half, while the Knicks were just 6 of 8. Brown pointed out the discrepancy at the beginning of his postgame press conference.
“Coach Mitch Johnson and the Spurs, they won the game tonight. They came in and stole the game,” Brown said. “But I’ll tell you this: I never thought I’d be in the NBA Finals and one team would make 24 free throw attempts in the second half and another team would make eight.”
