There will be no Knicks coronation in New York this week.
Like they did in Games 1 and 2, the San Antonio Spurs opened a double-digit first-quarter lead over the New York Knicks on Monday night. But this time, it portended a victory.
The Spurs built then blew a 33-21 advantage to a Knicks team that’s repeatedly bounced back this postseason from early deficits. But the Spurs threw their own counterpunch in the third quarter and held off a late Knicks rally in the final minutes of a 115-111 Game 3 win in the NBA Finals.
With the victory, the Spurs ended the Knicks’ 13-game playoff winning streak. And they cut New York’s series advantage to 2-1 in front of a rabid Madison Square Garden crowd that took its collective seats Monday night with dreams of witnessing the third game of a four-game championship sweep.