If the NBA had screenwriters, not even they may give you a start this good to the conference finals.
Victor Wembanyama has 41 points and 24 rebounds. San Antonio goes into Oklahoma City and beats the defending champion Thunder. Latest York trails by 22 points with about eight minutes left in regulation, then beats Cleveland. Each games go to additional time, a conference finals first. And the rating at the top of regulation in each games — 101-101.
Well done, Spurs and Knicks.
If there was a standard trend in each games, it was that the perfect player on the winning teams decided to grow to be the perfect player on the ground at crunch time. On Monday night, it was Wembanyama for the Spurs. On Tuesday night, it was Jalen Brunson for the Knicks — who led a 44-11 run during the last 13 minutes.
Jalen Brunson #11 of the Latest York Knicks reacts through the fourth quarter of a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game Certainly one of the NBA Playoffs Eastern Conference Finals at Madison Square Garden on May 19, 2026 in Latest York City. Sarah Stier/Getty Images/AFP
That’s right, 44-11.
“I don’t know if I’ve seen that in a playoff game,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “I take my hat off to my group.”
Game 2 of Spurs-Thunder is Wednesday. Game 2 of Knicks-Cavaliers is Thursday. The drama is simply going to maintain constructing.
“Found a way. … We got some stops,” Brunson said. “Kept fighting, kept believing, kept chipping away.”
The numbers — from each games — are of the video game variety.
Start with what happened at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night. A 44-11 run doesn’t occur within the NBA, actually not within the conference finals. Teams that led by 22 points or more within the fourth quarter were 452-1 this season, including playoffs. They’re 452-2 now. Within the playoffs, teams had won 330 consecutive games when leading by 22 or more points within the fourth quarter since 2013. They’re 330-1 now.
Make it make sense.
“I don’t have a solution,” Brunson said.
Neither did the Cavaliers, either because it was happening or within the immediate aftermath.
“We got a little bit unlucky,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. “Brunson obviously took over at the top. … We played great basketball tonight for 3 quarters. Unfortunately, the fourth quarter, they dominated us within the fourth quarter.”
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) celebrates after a dunk through the second additional time of Game 1 in a third-round NBA basketball playoffs series against the Oklahoma City Thunder Monday, May 18, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
A 41-point, 24-rebound game doesn’t occur that always, either. Wembanyama was good in his conference finals debut, as was Spurs rookie guard Dylan Harper. The Spurs, just like the Cavs, wasted a double-digit lead within the fourth quarter of Game 1 and settled for additional time; San Antonio’s lead was 10, not 22, but still double digits.
Unlike the Cav aliers, they found a approach to quiet down — repeatedly, really — within the two extra periods Monday night.
“That game was within the balance multiple times for each teams,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said Tuesday. “You may’t get preoccupied with the end result because there was a lot within the balance that might have went either way.”
Briefly, stealing home-court advantage by winning Game 1 doesn’t mean the Spurs think the series is over. And the Thunder know that Game 1 is meaningful — but not a deciding game by any stretch.
“The cumulative experience just teaches you that it’s a series,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said Tuesday. “Game 1’s a place to begin, not an end point. We’ve lost playoff series that we’ve won Game 1 pretty convincingly. And we’ve also won series that we won Game 1. So, every series is different. It’s the primary to 4. They’re 25% of the way in which there and we’re at zero straight away. But there’s a number of basketball left to be played. I believe this team sort of understands the length of the series, the length of the playoff run and the length of a playoff game.”
The defending champions are feeling some pressure. Latest York is rocking. Wembanyama’s star keeps rising. The Cavaliers — winners of two Game 7s in these playoffs — have to dig their way out of trouble, again.
The beginning to those conference-final stories was stellar. Chapter 2 awaits.