BBNBA Playoffs: Karl-Anthony Towns gets the best of Wemby in Game 1 Finals win

by: Zack Geoghegan3 hours agoZGeogheganKSR

The New York Knicks have a 1-0 lead in the 2026 NBA Finals. Jalen Brunson will deservedly command the headlines, but Karl-Anthony Towns deserves his flowers.

Towns was excellent on Wednesday night in San Antonio, finishing with 18 points, 12 rebounds, and four assists in his 34 minutes of action. Despite missing both of his three-point attempts, the seven-footer shot 7-15 from the field and a perfect 4-4 from the free-throw line. His offensive contribution was key to the Knicks pulling out a 105-95 win over the Spurs, but his defense on Victor Wembanyama earned him plenty of praise, too.

The headline of this article isn’t hyperbolic — KAT fully outplayed Wemby in Game 1 on both ends of the floor. Wembanyama still managed 26 points and 12 rebounds, but the Spurs aren’t going to win many games when he shoots 6-21 from the field (2-9 3PT). Wemby shot just 2-11 from when Towns was his primary defender.

The former Wildcat made an alien look human for what felt like the first time this postseason.

KAT Towns finals game 1 https://t.co/tHzFxTlUD3 pic.twitter.com/325pi3tXWd
— Automatic (@automaticnba) June 4, 2026

There aren’t many NBA players who deserve this moment more than Towns. He was an X-Factor coming into the Finals and helped swing a thrilling Game 1 in his team’s direction. This is his first Finals appearance in 10 years as a pro. The moment has been anything but too bright. He even used his postgame interview with ESPN to talk about his late mother. This dude is impossible not to root for right now.

And oh yeah, the Knicks still haven’t lost (9-0) since Towns was talking to Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada 2. That movie came out on May 1. In fact, the Knicks haven’t dropped a game since Game 3 of the Eastern Conference first round. That was almost seven full weeks ago now. New York is on a historic playoff run, and Towns is a huge reason why. Game 2 should be fun.

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A forgettable night for the Kentucky Spurs

Where KAT looked like an All-NBA player, the other two Wildcats in this series were anything but for the Spurs. It wasn’t the best outing for either De’Aaron Fox or Keldon Johnson.

Fox finished with seven points, five assists, and four rebounds in 38 minutes. He had moments of good play, particularly as a passer, but he shot 3-13 from the field and missed all four of his three-pointers while turning the ball over three times. The ankle injury he suffered earlier in the postseason might still be bothering him, but San Antonio simply needs more from him. Fox’s performance has NBA Twitter loudly questioning why Dylan Harper isn’t closing games and playing more minutes over him. The rookie Harper had 16 points and eight rebounds in 27 minutes on 6-10 shooting. Fox desperately needs a bounce-back in Game 2.

As for Johnson, the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year hasn’t had a great playoff run, and that continued in Game 1. He saw the floor for just eight minutes. And while he did knock down a big corner triple, he missed his other three shots and wasn’t able to make the usual energetic, physical impact he was known for during the regular season. The Spurs basically used a six-man rotation Wednesday night — Johnson was on the outside of that.

Other notes from Game 1

Jalen Brunson wasn’t great to start this game. A couple of minor injuries and a rough shooting stretch had his Knicks in a hole for most of the night. But great players step up when needed. He finished with 30 points on 31 shots, but was 5-9 for 13 points in the fourth quarter. Brunson’s contested fadeaway jumper with under 40 seconds left gave New York a six-point lead. He is one tough, tough dude.
A fan ran onto the floor in the middle of the game and tried to take a video selfie with Wemby. It went poorly. He was quickly escorted off the floor, and the video he posted afterward didn’t even show Wemby’s face, even though he was actually posing with a smile for the camera. I’m sure that young man thought he was about to be famous, and he will be for the rest of today, but I’m not sure that’s worth being arrested and banned from NBA games for life.
Josh Hart recorded an absurd stat line for the Knicks: three points, FIFTEEN REBOUNDS, six assists, four steals, and one block in 26 minutes. Hart is the first guard listed at 6-foot-5 or under to grab 15 rebounds in a Finals game since Sam Jones did the same all the way back in 1963.