Knicks' Jalen Brunson Sounds Off on First-Quarter Altercation With Victor Wembanyama
There was a lot of physicality at the beginning of Game 3 of the New York Knicks vs. San Antonio SpursNBA Finals matchup. In the first quarter, Spurs star Victor Wembanyama shoved Knicks guard Jalen Brunson to the ground. The fans at Madison Square Garden saw it happen, but none of the officials called a foul on Wembanyama.
Brunson kept his composure and did not retaliate. The fans were disappointed that the Spurs star was not called for the foul. They believed that he committed an obvious push on the Knicks star.
After the game, Brunson was asked about his thoughts on the no-call during his heated moment against Wembanyama. The Eastern Conference finals MVP was also asked if the Spurs' level of physicality bothered him in any way.
"No, to answer your second question," Brunson said. "And whatever you saw is what you saw."
Jalen Brunson was asked about Victor Wembanyama shoving him early in the game:
— SNY Knicks (@sny_knicks) June 9, 2026
"Whatever you saw is what you saw." pic.twitter.com/dls5rKMcz0
The Knicks star also had to contend with other players' grabbing, holding, and shoving. In the second quarter, he tried to fight for positioning to rebound the basketball against Spurs guard Stephon Castle. However, Castle pushed him a bit too hard, and he fell on the floor. The play was reviewed, and the Spurs guard was called for a common foul.
Although the game was extremely physical, Brunson still had an impressive 32-point outing. San Antonio also forced the star guard to commit five of the Knicks' 13 turnovers, which resulted in a 115-111 win for the Spurs to make the series 2-1.
Jalen Brunson Addresses First Loss Since April
Brunson and the Knicks have been on a roll since the first round of the playoffs. They had two losses in April against the Atlanta Hawks in Games 2 and 3. After that, New York's 13-game win streak started.
Unfortunately for the Knicks, their streak had to end on Monday against the Spurs. After the game, Brunson spoke about learning about their first loss since almost two months.
"I think win or lose, as a team, our minds are getting better the next day," Brunson said. "We've done our best to try and learn from wins over the past couple of weeks. But now we have to learn from a loss.
"The most important thing is that we were going to learn regardless, because we knew there were things that we were going to have to improve on going into the next game."
"The most important thing is that we were going to learn regardless, because we knew there were things that we were going to have to improve on going into the next game"
— SNY Knicks (@sny_knicks) June 9, 2026
Jalen Brunson talks about the Knicks learning from their first loss in a month and a half: pic.twitter.com/ew5dIuZRTt
Brunson and the Knicks look to bounce back from their Game 3 loss on Wednesday for Game 4.
Related: Jalen Brunson Addresses Victor Wembanyama's Crucial Mistake in Game 2
Copyright 2026 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 1:53 AM.