Mateo’s Hoop Diary: The Finals have been better than advertised

Three Finals games and three road wins. Each night has been decided by an average of five points and neither side has seen much success outside of the lane for long stretches. 

According to ESPN Press Room, Game 2 of the Finals averaged 16.43 million viewers, making it the most-watched Finals outing since Game 2 in 2018. The opener nearly had 20 million people watching, too. 

The Finals have been better than advertised, and the public might get an all-time great series if the Spurs match New York’s two road wins. Their triumph on Monday ended the Knicks’ 13-game winning streak, the second-longest in NBA history behind the 2017 Golden State Warriors, but another one would set up an epic Game 5 if they could get it done on Wednesday.

If the San Antonio Spurs were to win the title, they would be the first team in NBA history to do so after losing the first two home games. They’ll have a good chance if they can replicate all those inside actions from Game 3 for Victor Wembanyama. Eight of his 11 baskets were in the paint.

Another thing they’ll need is more production from De’Aaron Fox and Keldon Johnson. They didn’t have big stat lines on Monday, but played a crucial part of the fourth quarter together, helping the team keep their edge, and Fox hit the biggest shot of the game with 12.2 seconds left. 

A Knicks championship would make them the seventh third seed since 1983-84 to win. They’ll need Jalen Brunson to pick it up because he’s only making 37 percent of attempts after averaging 48.9 percent through the first three rounds. On top of that, he’s logged just as many turnovers as assists in the Finals. 

The Knicks can’t forget about Karl-Anthony Towns, either. The plan should be for him to make Wembanyama work as much as possible, so they’ll need to put him in motion and run a nice diet of screen-rolls for him, too. 

Notably, the Knicks and Spurs have allowed 17 and 17.7 wide-open 3-point attempts over the last three games, and are giving up 37.3 and 37.7 percent. That is slightly above average shooting. Both sides are trying to stop penetration at the expense of the arc and are getting lucky that opponents are missing with at least six feet of space.

Goodness willing this series extends to a seventh game, which would be the 21st in Finals history.