NBA Cup, historic success for New York Knicks
The New York Knicks win for the first time the NBA Cup, the “tournament within the tournament” of the U.S. basketball season now in its third year. The Big Apple franchise won the trophy by beating the San Antonio Spurs in the Las Vegas final by a score of 124-113. The sprint of the New Yorkers in the last quarter was decisive: 35-19 the partial, useful to cancel the -5 of the first thirty-six minutes and to sail to a historic success for the Knickerbockers, who had not added a significant trophy since 1999, when they won the Eastern Conference before surrendering, curiously enough to the Spurs, in the NBA Finals that season.
As for the numbers, New York was dragged by OG Anunoby’s 28 points (who added 9 rebounds to his scoreboard), as well as the 25 with 8 assists of Jalen Brunson, named MVP of the game. In double-double Karl-Anthony Towns, with 16 points and 11 rebounds, Jordan Clarkson, with 15, Tyler Kolek, with 14, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart, with 11 points, also went in double figures in the scoring department. Significant performance under the boards for Mitchell Robinson, who scored little (4 points for him) but collected an impressive 15 rebounds, also adding 2 points to a final played with intensity on both sides of the court.
On the other side, Dylan Harper’s 21 points were not enough, while Victor Wembanyama stopped at 18, with 6 rebounds and an assist: the French phenom thus eludes the first trophy in North America. As for the other players of the black-and-silver Texas franchise, De’Aaron Fox scored 16 points, Stephon Castle scored 15 while adding 12 assists and 7 rebounds, Luke Kornet put 14 points on the scoreboard, Devin Vassell 12 and Harrison Barnes 11. The collective effort of the Mitch Johnson-coached team, however, is not enough to overcome the one led on the sidelines by Mike Brown.
The New York Knicks thus add their name to the’roll of honor of the competition, introduced two seasons ago to make the first part of the regular season more competitive. Winning the first edition of the NBA Cup were LeBron James’s Los Angeles Lakers, who in 2023 won the finals against the Indiana Pacers 123-109.
The following year, however, it was the Milwaukee Bucks who won the competition’s final act, beating the future NBA champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder, 97-81, with Giannis Antetokounmpo named MVP. This year the Doc Rivers-coached team did not even manage to qualify for the knockout stage.
