Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- The Spurs adjusted their defensive strategy to limit Karl-Anthony Towns' impact in Game 3 at Madison Square Garden.
- Victor Wembanyama shifted his approach to focus on aggressive inside scoring, changing the game's flow significantly.
- Stephon Castle played with improved decision-making, cutting turnovers and boosting efficiency to help secure the win.
After dropping their first two games of the 2026 NBA Finals (both at home, mind you) it really looked like the San Antonio Spurs had no answer for the New York Knicks. However, the Western Conference champions dispelled any notion that they were going to go down without a fight after defeating the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden ,115-111.
There was a lot to love with how the Spurs played in Game 3, but there are three things in particular that really stood out.
1. Keeping Wembanyama off of Karl-Anthony Towns
Victor Wembanyama may be the best defender on the planet, but he's had his work cut out with Karl-Anthony Towns. Towns' supreme shooting ability forces Wembanyama to hug up on him (which keeps him out of the paint, which is where he is at his most dangerous), and his quickness, balance, and handle have given Wembanyama fits when trying to defend his drives.
To remedy this, the Spurs did a better job in Game 3 of keeping Wembanyama off of Towns, opting to have Wemby guard Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, or OG Anunoby while one of his teammates (like Julian Champagnie and Stephon Castle) checked the All-NBA big. In Games 1 and 2, 12 of Towns’ 27 field goal attempts (44.4 percent) were defended by Wembanyama (per NBA.com). In Game 3, only one of his 10 shots was defended by this season’s NBA Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY).
As a result, after averaging 19.5 points per game in the first two games, Towns was relegated to his worst performance of the series, scoring just 11 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the floor.
2. Wembanyama found a way to use his size
After Game 2, a lot of the discourse surrounding the Spurs involved Wembanyama only taking four shots in the first half and then settling for a ton of jumpers late in the game. For them to come back in this series, the Spurs knew they needed to get Wembanyama to be the once-in-a-lifetime paint presence he is capable of being, and that is exactly what happened in Game 3.
Wembanyama came out the gates uber aggressive, taking ten shots and scoring 15 points in the first half. He tied his series-high for shots at the rim (11, per Dunks & Threes) while also taking a series-low seven jumpers (mid-rangers and threes). As a result, Wembanyama had his best single-game Estimated Plus-Minus of the series (plus-5.5) and the Spurs won his 39 minutes by seven points.
3. The Spurs took care of the basketball
For the first time this series, the Spurs did not hit the double-digit mark in turnovers. In Game 1, they totaled 13. Game 2 that number ballooned up to 16. But, in Game 3, that number was just eight.
Stephon Castle has been a culprit in a lot the Spurs' high-turnover games. This postseason, his turnover rate ranks 123rd of 142 players, and in the last round against the Oklahoma City Thunder, he was breaking all the wrong kinds of records.
In Game 3, Castle had just two turnovers and was making much smarter decisions with the ball in his hands, leading to fewer transition run outs for the Knicks and allowing the Spurs to set that ferocious defense of theirs. Castle was brilliant in general in this one, tallying 23 points and five assists on 69.1 percent true shooting.
More NBA news and analysis:
Add us as a preferred source on Google