Knicks Eye 3-1 Lead as Spurs Bring Road Magic to MSG

Sport

By lines

June 9, 2026

NBA Finals Game 4 2026 Knicks Spurs preview illustration

NBA Finals Game 4 2026 Knicks Spurs tips off tonight at Madison Square Garden at 8:30 p.m. ET. The New York Knicks lead the San Antonio Spurs 2-1, but the road team has won every game. Victor Wembanyama posted 32 points in Game 3 and arrives in New York averaging 29.0 points per game in the series.

Wembanyama and the Road Factor: Why Game 4 Matters

Victor Wembanyama scored 32 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, and distributed 6 assists in Game 3 at MSG on June 9. Wembanyama also posted 3 blocks and 2 steals in the road win. Stephon Castle added 23 points and 5 assists as the San Antonio Spurs won 115-111. De’Aaron Fox delivered the winning runner late in the fourth quarter. The loss snapped a 13-game New York Knicks playoff winning streak.

Wembanyama’s Game 3 performance made Wembanyama the second-youngest player in NBA Finals history with a 30-5-5 line. Magic Johnson was the youngest to achieve that mark. The San Antonio Spurs’ offensive rating in Game 3 reached 123.7, the Spurs’ second-most-efficient game of this postseason. That 123.7 was also the New York Knicks’ worst defensive rating of the 2026 playoffs. OG Anunoby led New York with 28 points on 9-of-13 shooting in a losing effort. The New York Knicks enter Game 4 as 1.5-point favorites at FanDuel, with the total set at 216.5.

The road team has won all three games, only the second time this has occurred in NBA Finals history. The Chicago Bulls faced the same road-win pattern in the 1993 Finals against the Phoenix Suns. Chicago won that series in six games. No team has ever come back from a 2-0 Finals deficit to win the title. The San Antonio Spurs hold a 60-47 all-time regular-season advantage over the New York Knicks.

A Spurs win tonight would even the series at 2-2 and create a coin-flip for the NBA title. That would also make the 2026 Finals the first ever to reach 2-2 with the road team going 4-0. A Knicks win moves New York one game from its first championship since the 1973 NBA title. Mayor Zohran Mamdani declared June 10 “Wear Blue and Orange Day” across New York City offices and public schools.

Watch Wembanyama’s efficiency against the Knicks’ switching defense, which allowed a 123.7 offensive rating in Game 3. Stephon Castle’s clutch shot-creation was decisive in Game 3 and is the metric to track tonight. If San Antonio wins Game 4, the series returns to San Antonio for a pivotal Game 5 on Friday. Game 4 tips off at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC.