Sports

How the Spurs Used Hostile Madison Square Garden Crowd to Take NBA Finals Game 3 From Knicks

By Liam McKeone Sports Illustrated

NEW YORK - Just over 24 hours before nearly 20,000 rabid Knicks fans, the President of the United States and his Secret Service security detail descended upon Madison Square Garden, Luke Kornet stood next to an inflatable Larry O'Brien Trophy and said he actually liked playing on the road.

"Something fun about the road environment is all the adversity and noise honestly helps you sharpen up and focus even more on the basketball," the veteran center told Sports Illustrated on Sunday in anticipation of facing the MSG crowd in Game 3. "I've always felt that way about road games and I always liked it. [It's] kind of like you against everybody else in the building. The pressure brings you together in a greater sense."

Monday night tested Kornet's statement to a near-breaking point. New York fans were as loud, raucous and ready to chant vulgarity as everybody expected-and more. The presence of President Donald Trump created more "noise" than perhaps any NBA Finals game in recent memory, with the NYPD shutting down multiple blocks of New York City and warning fans to get to the arena several hours in advance of tip. The conflicting politics of modern America were brought into the arena and manifested when President Trump was shown on screen during the national anthem, eliciting a resonating combination of cheers and boos from the crowd.

And then the game actually started. Every Knicks run was met with waves of cheers rolling down the steep MSG flights of stairs with the energy of a city starving for a Knicks championship behind them. The titanic eruption of noise following Josh Hart's two threes in the first quarter was so loud you could feel the Chase Bridge, suspended far above the court, shaking in place. "F--- you, Wemby" chants broke out. As the Spurs argued with the referees amid inconsistent officiating that frustrated both sides, so too did Timothée Chalamet and Ben Stiller from their sideline seats. The spotlight of New York City, in all its burning brilliance, was shining directly upon San Antonio.

But the Spurs didn't waver. Not when they blew a double-digit lead in the second quarter. Not when Jordan Clarkson made his circus shot and paid homage to J.R. Smith in celebration as the crowd went bonkers. Not in the face of Hart's four three-pointers (only the third time he's hit that many in a game this playoffs). And not even when OG Anunoby made a three-pointer with a defender effectively wearing his jersey to bring the score within two with 9.4 seconds to go. San Antonio took the full brunt of everything MSG had to offer, with the Finals on the line-and delivered a 115–111 win that can change this series.

"Yes," Victor Wembanyama responded frankly when asked if the hostile crowd brought him and his teammates together as Kornet said. The superstar quietly pondered his next words. "At home, it feels like playing six against five. Here it feels like playing five against six.

"I agree with Luke. It really shows what teams are made of."

Indeed. It is not every team that can venture into the belly of the beast and emerge in one piece. And this particular adventure was fraught with distractions. Ten-foot black metal walls were erected around the Garden, every segment plastered with warnings from the federal government spelled out in bright yellow letters that entering the area means you consent "to a search of your person and belongings." As if there wasn't enough going on around the NBA Finals (and as if there isn't enough going on in NYC at all times), Monday's game was a new level of circus-one that loomed over what was, essentially, a must-win game for the Spurs.

As we've seen from this young team throughout the postseason, they weren't perfect. There were mistakes that might've broken other teams. Or at least sent them into a spiral they couldn't pull out of in that environment with those stakes. Their opponent in these Finals, a veteran and battle-tested Knicks team, is extremely quick to take advantage of those mistakes; it's a large part of the reason why they won both games in San Antonio to start the series.

But on Monday, the Spurs took blow after blow and remained standing when the clock showed zeroes. They are, if not unflappable, then extremely difficult to faze.

No single player might embody that more than Stephon Castle, the second-year guard who oozes talent on every possession but isn't always able to harness it to productive ends. He drove the Spurs early with 18 first-half points on 7-for-9 shooting, including some absurdly tough buckets in the paint with multiple Knicks defenders draped all over him. But New York keyed in on his drives in the second half, limiting his impact-until the end of the game, when Castle's coach put the ball in his hands at the free throw line.

With 6.8 seconds remaining and a two-point lead, Castle stood alone at the line with tens of thousands of Knicks faithful screaming for him to miss, decades of agony powering their boos as they furiously wished the worst upon the 21-year-old guard. One miss and the Knicks could tie the game on the next possession; two and they could hit a game-winner that would incite riots throughout the five boroughs.

But Castle took a deep breath, dribbled three times with his left hand, and swished his first. Then the second. And just like that, the Spurs escaped the maw.

"It's their first Finals game in 30 years," Castle said. "We expected it to be loud in here. We said coming into the game, they're going to have their runs, they're going to make shots. When that happens, just stick together, stay poised. Really just play together."

This series is far from over. Monday night's win represented only the first step for the Spurs to really get back in it after blowing home court advantage. The Game 4 crowd on Wednesday night might be even louder, unshackled from worrying about the Secret Service and whether they'll get into the Garden on time.

But it's undeniable: In their first encounter with the famously acidic New York crowd on the biggest stage in basketball, the Spurs didn't flinch. They won the day by leaning on the camaraderie that got them this far.

And they'll have to do it again.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as How the Spurs Used Hostile Madison Square Garden Crowd to Take NBA Finals Game 3 From Knicks.

Copyright ABG-SI LLC. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is a registered trademark of ABG-SI LLC. All Rights Reserved.

This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 1:37 AM.

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