The Recent York Knicks practice prior to Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series against the San Antonio Spurs, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Recent York. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
2026 NBA Finals schedule: San Antonio Spurs vs Recent York Knicks
NEW YORK — Madison Square Garden has seen nearly every thing in sports and entertainment, from the primary Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier fight to the primary Wrestlemania.
It just hasn’t seen much of the NBA Finals.
The Recent York Knicks have brought the finals back to their home court for the primary time since 1999 and may make sure that they don’t leave again this 12 months. Fans are spending astonishingly high prices for tickets and the potential to witness a celebration greater than five a long time within the making.
READ: Donald Trump, Knicks fan, heads back to Recent York for NBA Finals
With a 2-0 lead over Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs, the Knicks are halfway to their first championship since 1973. They’re the most important thing within the Big Apple, and it seems everyone seems to be caught up within the hoopla except the Knicks themselves.
“I do know the fan base is absolutely excited, as they must be,” captain Jalen Brunson said. “But as a team, us contained in the locker room, we’ve got more work to do.”
Game 3 is Monday, with President Donald Trump within the constructing. Whether or not they’ve played in the sector or sat way up within the low cost seats — not that there may be such a thing this time with tickets reselling for greater than $10,000 — people know tonight shall be different.
“I believe it’s going to be through the roof,” Spurs guard Dylan Harper said. “I believe it’s going to be every thing that I’ve form of seen or dreamed of times 10.”
It’s going to be the primary NBA Finals game at Madison Square Garden since June 25, 1999, which ended with the Knicks watching the Spurs have a good time their first championship after winning Game 5.
That series, and one in 1994, were the one finals games played at MSG because the Knicks won the 1973 title. They were rarely close again until this 13-game winning streak, the second longest by any team in a single playoffs, with the atmosphere around town seemingly becoming more raucous with each victory.
READ: NBA Finals: Down 0-2, Wembanyama says he’s ‘built for’ pressure
“Fans have earned the correct and deserve the correct to see finals basketball be played here at Madison Square Garden,” Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns said. “For this to be the primary game in an extended time that they’ve seen finals basketball, it’s as much as us to bring it, give them something to cheer for, give them something to get loud for and in addition give them something to imagine in.”
Wembanyama, Brunson and the remaining of the players shall be only a part of the scene Monday, sharing it with the primary sitting president to attend an NBA Finals game and the celebrity fans who surround the court. A few of them were already there Sunday for practices, with Knicks coach Mike Brown finally getting to fulfill actor Ben Stiller, then having his news conference prolonged when rapper Fat Joe insisted on a probability to talk from the back.
Wembanyama got to point out his stuff at MSG in his second season, when the Spurs got the leadoff game on the NBA’s marquee Christmas schedule and he scored 42 points. Opportunities like that, which the Spurs increasingly have been treated to since drafting the 7-foot-4 phenom from France, could help them with what they may face Monday.
“This arena’s like no other. The added circumstances shall be on top of that,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “We’ve been fortunate to play some games on this arena recently which have been, again, not finals, but a Christmas game. Again, I just think added attention around Victor and being on this arena a couple of times, we’ve experienced that. I’d expect tomorrow shall be greater than that.”
The Knicks have been so dominant during this run that they haven’t gotten to see MSG much. They’ve played only 4 home games since May 4, after they opened the second round of the playoffs. So even the house team struggles to place into words exactly what Monday will look and sound like.
READ: NBA Finals: Knicks bench shines vs Wembanyama, Spurs in Game 2
“I’ve seen loads of crazy atmospheres,” guard Deuce McBride said. “I don’t think I’m going to know what to anticipate, but I’m just proud to be here, I’m so blessed to play here and I do know the fans are going to bring it and we’re going to do every thing we will.”
The sector that shook when Willis Reed walked onto the court for Game 7 in 1970 shall be rocking again Monday. The present MSG had opened just a few years earlier, and the previous one never even saw the NBA Finals. The Knicks made it three straight years from 1951-53, but those games were played on the 69th Regiment Armory on Lexington Avenue since the Garden was hosting the circus.
Game 3 kicks off a large sports week within the Recent York region, with a World Cup game scheduled for Saturday in nearby East Rutherford, Recent Jersey, which can host the ultimate. Knicks forward Josh Hart had signed on in an envoy role for the local World Cup committee but knows the Knicks have put even the world’s biggest sporting event on the back burner for the moment.
“I really like football, man, so obviously a bit bummed I can’t go to a few of those matches, but I even have something a bit more interesting without delay happening in my life,” Hart said. “It also adds to the energy of town.”