About six months ago, they met in the NBA Cup championship game.
While some might not have taken too much stock in it, that proved to be a precursor of what was to come as the San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks are again the last teams standing and set for a rematch in the 2026 NBA Finals.
Game 1 of the NBA Finals is scheduled for Wednesday, June 3, at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio.
Back in December, the Knicks won that NBA Cup, the league’s in-season tournament it launched three years ago. Can they now hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy and capture their first NBA title since 1973?
The Knicks are on a historic run entering the NBA Finals. They haven’t lost a game since April 23, have recorded two straight playoff sweeps and during their 11-game winning streak they have a point differential of +262, the most ever during any 11-game stretch in the history of the NBA. Each of the Knicks’ last three playoff opponents will have come off a Game 7.
The Spurs, in the NBA Finals for the first time in 12 years, don’t have the winning streak the Knicks have but they’ve been just as impressive. They’re just days removed from knocking out the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference finals.
Led by the NBA’s defensive player of the year Victor Wembanyama and a hungry group of young players, nine of the Spurs’ 12 playoff wins have been by double figures.
Who will set the tone in Game 1?
Here’s what to know about the NBA Finals, including the schedule, where to watch, the complete playoff bracket and more:
NBA games tonight
There are no NBA games on the schedule Tuesday, June 2, as final preparations take place before Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
When’s the first game of the NBA Finals? Game 1 start time
The first game of the NBA Finals is Wednesday, June 3, with tipoff set for 7:30 p.m.
Shop NBA Finals tickets
NBA Finals schedule
Here’s the full NBA Finals schedule. All games tip off at 7:30 p.m. and air on ABC.
Where to watch the NBA Finals on TV, live stream
All of the NBA Finals games air on ABC and stream on Fubo, which offers a free trial.
Stream the NBA Finals
Who’s favored in the NBA Finals? Spurs vs Knicks odds for Game 1
Odds courtesy of BetMGM
Who’s in the NBA Finals?
The San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks are squaring off in the NBA Finals.
It’s a rematch of their NBA Finals matchup in 1999 that the Spurs won.
Here’s the Spurs’ path to the 2026 NBA Finals: Beat the Portland Trailblazers, 4-1, beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 4-2, beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, 4-3.
Here’s the Knicks’ path to the 2026 NBA Finals: Beat the Atlanta Hawks, 4-2, beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 4-0, beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 4-0.
How does the NBA Finals work?
The NBA Finals are like all the other previous playoff series in that they are a best-of-seven and in a 2-2-1-1-1 format.
The first team to win four games wins the series.
Since they had a better regular season record, the Spurs host the first two games in San Antonio. Then the series shifts to New York for Games 3 and 4. If necessary, Game 5 will be back in San Antonio, Game 6 will be in New York and Game 7 will be in San Antonio.
NBA playoff bracket
Here’s the complete playoff bracket:
Who won the NBA Finals 2025?
The Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Indiana Pacers in seven games to win the NBA Finals in 2025.
It was the Thunder’s first championship in Oklahoma City. The franchise, which moved from Seattle in 2008, had previously won a title in 1979.
Fresh off his first regular season MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won NBA Finals MVP after averaging 30.3 points in the series. Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton torn his Achilles early in Game 7, an injury that kept him out all of the 2025-26 season.
The Thunder again had the NBA’s best regular-season record in 2025-26 and were on the doorstep of another NBA Finals appearance but fell to the Spurs in Games 6 and 7 to lose the Western Conference finals.
NBA Finals prediction dog
Leading up to the NBA Finals, you’ll hear many prognosticators offer their picks on who will win the NBA Finals.
But for the pick that really matters is that of Air Corgi the dog, which offers up its prediction by shooting a ball of its nose down a flight of stairs into a basket that has the picture of each team.
Who is the corgi picking?
See the video below:
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: When do the NBA Finals begin? First game, schedule, where to watch
Reporting by Christopher Kuhagen, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
