SAN ANTONIO (AP) — For a few hours on Tuesday, the San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks held practices on a floor that had the NBA Finals logo painted at midcourt. They did interviews with the logo as a backdrop. They saw finals mentions basically everywhere they looked.
It might have seemed normal. It wasn’t.
This stage — the NBA Finals — is new to just about everyone on the Spurs and Knicks rosters, meaning very few players on either side can have any real idea of how the moment will seem on Wednesday night when the 80th title series in league history gets underway in San Antonio.
They have two big things in common: It’s going to be new, and it took them all forever to get here.
“Falling in love with basketball happened really early on in my life,” San Antonio star Victor Wembanyama said. “I mean, I have pictures of myself with a basketball at an age where I was not even old enough to have memories.”
More memories will be made over the next four to seven games, without question. The Spurs are seeking their sixth title and first since 2014; the Knicks are seeking their third title and first since 1973.
It’s a matchup that could have been dreamed up in board rooms: New York is the capital of the world, the Knicks are an iconic brand, the Spurs are a proven championship franchise and their best player happens to be a 7-foot-4 Frenchman who already has an enormous global following.
“The best player in the world,” Spurs guard Stephon Castle said of Wembanyama.
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson — the MVP of the Eastern Conference finals — had nothing but the highest of praise to offer to Wembanyama, the MVP of the Western Conference finals.
“Watching him as a player, it’s pretty unbelievable,” Brunson said Tuesday. “The things he’s able to do on both sides of the ball, people have never really seen before from a person of his size. So, it’s incredible to watch. … He’s pretty incredible.”
The Spurs got to the NBA Finals by winning 62 games in the regular season, getting past Portland in Round 1, Minnesota in Round 2, then going the distance in a seven-game classic that ended the reign of Oklahoma City as NBA champions.
The Knicks got here on the strength of an 11-game playoff winning streak — the last three of Round 1 against Atlanta, then sweeping Philadelphia and Cleveland. And the winning margin over those 11 games is like none other in any 11-game stretch in the NBA’s 80-year history.
“It’s a great team,” Wembanyama said. “It’s a great team of experienced guys who are not here by chance, but by relentless effort over the years. Very different career paths for all of them. They’re right where they’re supposed to be, in my opinion.”
The only players in this series who have started finals games in the past are the Spurs’ Harrison Barnes (for Golden State) and the Knicks’ Mikal Bridges (for Phoenix). Barnes typically doesn’t start for San Antonio, Bridges typically does for the Knicks, and that means nine of the 10 starters in Game 1 will be in unfamiliar territory.
“When you can prepare the right way, when you do your routines, you treat it like a normal game, it allows you to be as normal as possible,” Brunson said.
There are ties that players have to Finals past, even without playing in them. Spurs guard Dylan Harper’s dad is Ron Harper, a five-time NBA champion as a player. Brunson’s father — Knicks assistant Rick Brunson — played for New York in the 1999 finals, and Knicks guard Jordan Clarkson got birds-eye view of past Spurs championship parades. He grew up in San Antonio and his stepmother worked at a hotel that had a prime view of the parade route.
“Being able to take pictures and run up on players for autographs, I was definitely that kid,” said Clarkson, whose father used to detail cars owned by some Spurs players. “Seeing this energy and seeing how alive the city comes when the Spurs are in the finals and winning championships, it’s a great experience.”
When it’s all over, a new champ will be crowned. That team will be the NBA’s eighth different winning franchise in the last eight years — continuing a run like none other in league history. The Spurs are favored, and the Knicks don’t mind the underdog role.
“We’re here now, so there’s nothing more for us to say or talk about or to think,” Spurs guard Devin Vassell said. “We’re just going to keep doing what we’re doing and that’s been successful for us.”
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