#381: Thoughts on the Knicks title & the Spurs run
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What made the 2026 Spurs’ playoff run feel like a historic experiment?
Thinking Basketball Podcast. My name is Ben. Welcome back. We made it through the 2026 season and it's been a few days. I feel like it's been about six months since the season ends. That's a weird thing where our last episode was right after game four. which was just one of the strangest, most surreal things ever. And that was only a week ago. And then we couldn't record over the weekend. And now here we are. And, uh, you know, it's time to come back and put a bow on the season, but it's nice to contrast that episode where we just had like immediate overnight reactions that were raw as could be with. Now we have a couple of days, not only removed from the last game game four and five of the finals, but also, uh,
Just the playoffs and everything we saw from the New York Knicks run and the Spurs run. It was really an incredible series of twists and turns. Cody, I was thinking about it today. How many series have ever had the favorite in the series? Because the Spurs were a small favorite. It was like 60-40-ish, depending on the markets you looked at. But they were a favorite. How many series have ever had the favorite... almost instantly look like they're going to get swept. So you just flip the entire thing around. Then, then look like they're going to flip the entire series all the way back around and do a backdoor sweep like the 1977 Portland Trailblazers. Like now we're down to nothing, but we got this. Here we come.
Sorry, I should have said the 2021 Milwaukee Bucks. I'm so sorry. That would be the appropriate reference for you. Down to nothing, just turn it around. And that was like the very real sense of, in the building in Madison Square Garden, all my Knicks fans, friends who were just in full meltdown mode, like that's it, it's done. And even strategically, the Spurs got to where they did in the six quarters, the first six quarters played in Madison Square Garden in this series because they made some changes and it was like, oh, what is happening? This is crazy. And then within about 45 minutes of real time, flipped all the way back around to Ken San Antonio, do anything right and win a game in this series.
I don't remember ever having a series with that extreme level of whiplash, certainly not in the NBA Finals.
No, you know, I'm glad you gave me a nice little Bucs shout out in your first statement here, because I think that it gets lost in the annals of NBA history. I think that 2021 finals should be talked about more as being one of the more exciting finals in recent memory, right? Bucs being down 2-0. I think a couple of them were blowouts, but the last few games came down 2-0. to some really – like every play that we have, obviously the Drew lob to Giannis, the Giannis block and stuff. There's also some incredibly clutch like 10-0 runs from Chris Middleton and all that. They all end up really, really close at the end there. I just don't think it gets the respect it should. But obviously we're not going to talk about the Bucs any at all today.
We could just do the whole show on the Bucs. Isn't that what you want?
Yeah, that's that's all I'm looking for is just, you know, swing it right now. Go back in time. Talk about some of the best bucks in NBA history. But no, you're absolutely right. And I think the main thing that blows my mind about the series that we just watched wasn't four of the five games. The Spurs had a 10 point lead in the first quarter. Like that's that's inconceivable to me. It doesn't make sense. Five of the five games they had a 10 point lead. Not in the first quarter, though. I think that's the differentiator. So they came out strong in four of the five games. And then all of them, the Knicks just flip it. And there are so many things, that being one of them, that I'm glad we've had a few days to think about it.
Because after a few days to think about what we just watched, Ben... I'm still not really sure what I watched. I'm still not settled in figuring out exactly how this fits into my understanding of the NBA, about the Knicks players, about the Spurs players, about the state of the NBA in general.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What made the 2026 Spurs’ playoff run feel like a historic experiment?
0:07–12:10
2
How did Victor Wembanyama’s defensive numbers compare to all‑time greats?
12:10–24:00
3
Why did the Knicks lead only about 27 % of the series despite close games?
24:00–34:03
4
What were the key moments that let Jalen Brunson dominate Game 5?
34:03–43:57
5
How did the Knicks’ bench contribute to their postseason success?
43:57–55:10
6
Is the 2026 Knicks team an ‘ensemble’ championship squad?
55:10–1:06:05
7
What can we expect from the Knicks and Spurs heading into the 2027 season?
1:06:05–1:16:10
8
Which upcoming NBA teams look poised to replicate this year’s surprise runs?
1:16:10–1:17:31