1999 repeats

In one of the best Western Conference Finals in NBA history, the San Antonio Spurs dethroned defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in an epic 7-game series, the fifth Game 7 of this playoffs.   This was the 160th Game 7 in playoff history.

During the regular season, the Spurs beat OKC four out of five games including the NBA Cup last December.   The Thunder’s home court edge notwithstanding, they knocked them out of the playoffs.

This Game 7 Conference Finals loss was the third for OKC in franchise history.  They lost Game 7s in the 2020 bubble against Houston and in 2016 at Golden State.

Dating back to 1979, San Antonio is 4-7 in Game 7s.   Their recent victory against OKC was their first Game 7 win since 2014 against Dallas.

The NBA Finals is set.   Tomorrow, the Spurs battle the New York Knicks at home for the 2026 NBA title.   This is a repeat of the 1999 NBA Finals which San Antonio won.   Maybe, just maybe, NYK can change the script.

The Knicks enter the Finals as the hottest team in NBA playoff history with a 12-2 record posting an average of 19.4 per game.   NYK had been great, but they are the clear underdogs in this series.   It’s a long shot if they can dominate the Spurs like they did with Atlanta, Philadelphia and Cleveland.

Why?  It’s because of the guy they call “The Alien”, Victor Wembanyama, no need to elaborate further if you’d seen what he’s been doing.  Karl Anthony-Towns and Mitchell Robinson, who just had an operation on his right pinky finger, will have very busy nights containing him.

Then the Spurs have this seraphic connection with the Salesian sisters.  Their enthusiastic presence during games with SAS jerseys over their religious habits had gone viral.   The connection started in 2007 when Greg Popovich and some players dropped by the Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco at their provincial house in the outskirts of San Antonio after they won their fourth title in 2007.   The sisters will now seek more celestial help.   I assume some of my Bosconian brothers will root for the Spurs.

Of course, the Knicks have their own spiritual link.  Josh Hart (2016), Jalen Brunson (2016, 2018) and Mikal Bridges (2016, 2018) were on Villanova University’s 2016 and 2018 NCAA championship teams.   As the only Augustinian Catholic university in the US, it includes among its graduates members of the clergy, the most famous being Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, and is reportedly a supporter of the Villanova Wildcats basketball team.

Let us not be surprised if Pope Leo XIV will do his own blessing and benediction on the Knicks and whoever wins the Larry O’Brien trophy has the edge in divine intervention.