Rumors

Lev Akabas‬: Jalen Brunson is the greatest NBA playoff clutch scorer of this generation

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‪John Schuhmann‬: Spurs: 3-8 in clutch games in the playoffs.

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ALL NBA Podcast: Wemby's average shot distance and eFG% by game in the finals Game 1: 17.3 feet -- 33.3 eFG% Game 2: 13.2 feet -- 57.1 eFG% Game 3: 10.6 feet -- 66.7 eFG%

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‪Law Murray 📘‬: The New York Knicks have been outscored by 24 points in the 37:30 that Karl-Anthony Towns has been off the floor in the 2026 NBA Finals through three games

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Automatic: Knicks lost both the possession battle (net TSA) and shooting battle (net TS%) tonight for the first time since Mar. 29th, 2026 against OKC.

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‪Bobby Krivitsky‬: Jalen Brunson tonight: 3/9 in the paint He was great when he got all the way to the rim, but the Spurs did an excellent job of making life difficult for him when he tried to attack. No longer having Wemby guard KAT was a difference-maker.

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Among all NBA Finals teams through Games 1-2 of the championship, New York ranks No. 4 in wins above expected (trailing the 2017 Warriors, 1993 Bulls and 1995 Rockets) and No. 1 in PPG margin over expected (solidly beating the 2017 Warriors’ +19.9 mark):

Neil Paine's Substack

?John Schuhmann?: Spurs are now 2-5 in clutch games in the playoffs, 10-2 otherwise.

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?Keerthika Uthayakumar?: New York is 8-8 when trailing by double-digits over the last 2 postseasons. 14-17 when trailing by 10+ in the playoffs since Brunson became a Knick, the most double-digit comeback playoff wins in that span.

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Keerthika Uthayakumar: Only three teams have led the playoffs in offensive & defensive rating since 1997. Lakers in 2001 Warriors in 2018 Knicks in this run

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But is the newfound elite defensive performance sustainable? Listen to enough NBA podcasts, and you’ll frequently hear the take that the Knicks have two massive defensive holes to patch: Brunson at the point and Karl-Anthony Towns in the frontcourt. So even with a trio of very good “wing-stopper” defenders in OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart, they’re sort of treading water. The critique of Brunson is fair. He’s not a black hole like Trae Young out there, and he gets his share of steals, but his low center of gravity does not really translate on defense according to either the eye test or the advanced stats. However, I’d argue that the Knicks have one big defensive liability, not two. According to EPM, Towns had the best defensive season of his career and was a slight defensive positive overall.

Silver Bulletin

‪Lev Akabas‬: The 2026 Oklahoma City Thunder had the second best regular season net rating of any NBA team that didn't win the title

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‪NBA Stat‬: Saturday will mark the second Game 7 in NBA history between two teams who each had a .750+ win pct in the regular season. The other came in the 1981 Eastern Conference Finals, when the Celtics beat the 76ers 91-90 to complete their comeback from a 3-1 series deficit. (via OptaSports) #NBA

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ESPN Insights: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's -28 plus-minus is tied with 2023 Joel Embiid for the lowest plus-minus by the NBA's MVP in a clinching opportunity in the play-by-play era (since 1997) ??

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