A familiar story once again unfolded for the New York Knicks on Saturday night in Game 5 of their NBA Finals clash against the San Antonio Spurs. As they’ve done for most of the series, the Knicks had a slow start once more. Perhaps the nerves of being on the precipice of winning a championship got to the Knicks in the first quarter of Game 5.
Whatever the case may be, the Knicks can at least take solace in the fact that there is certainly nowhere to go but up for their offense the deeper we head into Game 5. As Tim Bontemps of ESPN pointed out, the Knicks had more turnovers (six) than they did field goals (four) as they fell down by double digits, 23-13, after the first 12 minutes of the contest.
It has been a trend in this year’s NBA Finals that the Knicks have started things off slowly, only to heat up in the second quarter and make it a close game throughout. This has been the story in the first five games of the series, so it’s not like the Knicks’ confidence level will waver anytime soon just because they couldn’t buy too many buckets in the first quarter of this closeout game.
However, many NBA players will attest to the fact that closeout games are the most difficult, especially ones on the road. The Knicks did win the first two games of the series at Frost Bank Center, but one would think that this Spurs team has already learned quickly from the mistakes they’ve made over the past week or so.
But the Knicks definitely have the edge in terms of mental fortitude and composure after coming off a historic 29-point comeback in Game 4 against the Spurs to come to within one win away of breaking their 53-year title drought.
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