Watch the NBA Finals between the Knicks and Spurs starting Wednesday on ABC 7
NEW YORK (WABC) -- The last time the New York Knicks made the NBA Finals, the San Antonio Spurs were the opponent and just happened to have a generational big-man talent who was heading to the title round for the first time.
Déjà vu. Back then for the Spurs, it was Tim Duncan. This time for the Spurs, it's Victor Wembanyama. Here they go again - San Antonio vs. New York is the matchup for the 2026 NBA Finals, a Spurs team looking to return to basketball's mountaintop for the sixth time and a Knicks team looking for its first championship in 53 years.
The Knicks stormed through the Eastern Conference, winning 11 consecutive games by an average of 23.8 points to reach the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999.
The Spurs ended the Oklahoma City Thunder's hopes of becoming the first team since the Kevin Durant-led Golden State Warriors of 2017 and 2018 to win back-to-back titles.
Channel 7 is also your home for the NBA Finals.
On Wednesday, ahead of Game 1, Eyewitness News Mornings at 10 will be live from Madison Square Garden. Then at 7:30 p.m., we'll have the Countdown to Tipoff. That's followed by NBA Tip-off at 8:00 p.m., and then Game 1 starts at 8:30 p.m.
Plus, Ryan Field, Sam Ryan, and Anthony Johnson will all be on the road in San Antonio. You can watch their reports on Eyewitness News.
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A famous Knicks fan is telling people to take mass transit to the upcoming NBA Finals.
Comedian Tracy Morgan says his message applies not just to ticket holders who will be showing up at the Garden, but to anyone who will be getting around the city for a Knicks watch party.
New York has a lot riding on the underdog Knicks.
At DraftKings Sportsbook in New York, the Knicks have attracted nearly half of all money wagered on the NBA Finals winner this season -- almost as much as every other team combined.
Now, Victor Wembanyama and the favored San Antonio Spurs are all that stand in the way. On Saturday night, the Spurs opened as high as -220 favorites to win the Finals, with the Knicks installed as approximately +180 underdogs. The price quickly gravitated toward the rested Knicks, and as of Sunday morning, the Spurs were down to -200 favorites.
New York swept its two previous series in the Eastern Conference playoffs and has won 11 straight games. The Knicks haven't played since Monday and will have had eight days off when they tip off against the Spurs on Wednesday in Game 1 of the Finals in San Antonio.
The Spurs, who survived an intense seven-game series against the Oklahoma City Thunder to reach the Finals, are 4.5-point favorites in Game 1.
This is the ninth Finals matchup between a team that swept its previous series and an opponent that was forced to go seven games. The team coming off the sweep went 5-3 in the previous Finals matchups, according to ESPN Research.
Both teams were supported heavily at sportsbooks this season. The Spurs entered the season at 65-1 to win the title at DraftKings Sportsbook and would become the biggest preseason underdogs to win the title in at least 40 seasons, according to archive SportsOddsHistory.com.
The Knicks began the season at 10-1 and saw their championship odds drift to as long as 19-1 during an up-and-down regular season. They reached 35-1 briefly in the postseason, as they struggled with the Atlanta Hawks in their first-round playoff series.
"Knicks are unsurprisingly very heavily bet on in New York, more so than any other state, both per game and in the futures." Caesars Sportsbook lead NBA trader David Lieberman told ESPN, adding that both the Knicks and Spurs are liabilities for the house in the book's futures market.
Wembanyama, who last month was named NBA Defensive Player of the Year, is a -185 favorite to be named Finals MVP at DraftKings Sportsbooks. Since the DPOY was first awarded in 1983, the only player to win that award and Finals MVP in the same season was Hakeem Olajuwon in 1994, according to ESPN Research.br/]
The New York Knicks are back in the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999, and they'll face the same opponent they did then, the San Antonio Spurs. You can watch the entire NBA Finals on ABC 7 and the ESPN app.
Game 1: June 3 at Spurs
Game 2: June 5 at Spurs
Game 3: June 8 at Knicks
Game 4: June 10 at Knicks
Game 5*: June 13 at Spurs
Game 6*: June 16 at Knicks
Game 7*: June 19 at Spurs
* if necessary
All games tip off at 8:30 p.m. ET
