The NBA delivered a jaw-dropping start to the conference finals in New York, San Antonio, Oklahoma City and Cleveland as Victor Wembanyama and Jalen Brunson stamped their playoff authority. Wembanyama poured in 41 points and grabbed 24 rebounds as the Spurs stole Game 1 in Oklahoma City, while Brunson led a miraculous 44-11 closing run to push the Knicks past Cleveland in Madison Square Garden. Both games hit 101-101 at the end of regulation and needed overtime, giving fans instant classic moments and setting a charged tone for the series ahead.
Victor Wembanyama’s performance in Oklahoma City looked like a generational statement more than a single-game heroics. The 41-point, 24-rebound line reads like a video game stat sheet, and Wembanyama carried San Antonio when possessions mattered most. The Spurs found extra calm in overtime and kept finding answers on both ends, which is exactly what you want from a breakout postseason moment.
In New York, Jalen Brunson was the man who erased a 22-point deficit in under eight minutes, sparking a 44-11 run that flipped the script at Madison Square Garden. “Found a way. … We got some stops,” Brunson said, and those few words captured a comeback that felt almost impossible until it happened. The Knicks’ resilience under pressure changed the dynamic of that series instantly and reminded everyone why playoff basketball is a different animal.
Those numbers pile up into historic territory. Teams leading by 22 or more in the fourth quarter were nearly unbeatable this season, and playoff history showed a long streak of wins in that situation. New York’s comeback became one of those rare exceptions, and the Cavaliers were left searching for an explanation on the fly.
“I don’t know if I’ve seen that in a playoff game,” Mike Brown said, reflecting the disbelief around a run like that. The quote landed because it’s hard to quantify how momentum can swing so dramatically in such a short span of time. For Cleveland, it felt like everything that had been working evaporated in the final minutes.
“I don’t have an answer,” Brunson said, admitting the mystery from the Knicks’ perspective while also embracing the moment. On the other side, Kenny Atkinson tried to process the loss the way every coach does after a collapse: parse the tape, point out positives, and prep for the next one. “We got a little unlucky,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. “Brunson obviously took over at the end. … We played great basketball tonight for three quarters. Unfortunately, the fourth quarter, they dominated us in the fourth quarter.”
San Antonio’s win in Oklahoma City didn’t come without drama either; the Spurs squandered a double-digit lead in the fourth but kept their heads in the two overtime periods. “That game was in the balance multiple times for both teams,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said Tuesday. “You can’t get preoccupied with the outcome because there was so much in the balance that could have went either way.” His point is simple: single games swing on a handful of plays, and those plays don’t always reflect the longer series arc.
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault echoed that longer-view approach, insisting Game 1 is a start, not a verdict. “The cumulative experience just teaches you that it’s a series,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said Tuesday. “Game 1’s a starting point, not an end point. We’ve lost playoff series that we’ve won Game 1 pretty convincingly. And we’ve also won series that we won Game 1. So, every series is different. It’s the first to four. They’re 25% of the way there and we’re at zero right now. But there’s a lot of basketball left to be played. I think this team kind of understands the length of the series, the length of the playoff run and the length of a playoff game.”
The defending champion Thunder will regroup at home and try to blunt Wembanyama’s surge, while the Spurs will try to use their confidence from stealing Game 1 as momentum. In New York, the Garden roared as the Knicks erased a seemingly insurmountable deficit, and the Cavaliers have to wrestle back control after a stunning late collapse. Both series now feel like open races rather than settled affairs.
The takeaway is less about singular miracles and more about timing and temperament: elite players step up when games tilt toward chaos, and coaches fall back on the old lesson that a series is not decided in one night. Game 2 of Spurs-Thunder is Wednesday, and Game 2 of Knicks-Cavaliers is Thursday, which means there isn’t long to reset or overthink—just play. The conference finals have started with the kind of theater that raises expectations and guarantees the next chapter will be watched closely.
