The New York Knicks may have been the underdog heading into the NBA Finals, but Josh Hart believes his team has identified a key weakness in the San Antonio Spurs before the series even begins.
Hart revealed that one moment immediately caught his attention after the Western Conference Finals.
“Everyone’s talking to them, ‘Yo, they have to beat the Thunder. The Thunder are going to do it again,'” Hart said during an appearance on The Roommate Show live from Madison Square Garden with teammate Jalen Brunson. “They beat the Thunder. For a young team, I feel like that’s the mountaintop for them.
“I looked at (Brunson) then and I thought, ‘Did you see that reaction? Because they thought they were going to win. They thought it was over.'”
One of the defining moments of the night was Victor Wembanya becoming emotional after the final whistle, which showed just how significant the moment was for Spurs’ young core.
The Knicks, meanwhile, took a much different approach to the Eastern Conference Finals.
After sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers to reach the Finals for the first time in 27 years, attention quickly shifted to the championship series rather than celebrating the achievement itself.
This difference in mentality seemed to show throughout the Finals.
While the Spurs entered the series with confidence after knocking off the Oklahoma City Thunder, the veteran Knicks looked too clinical when it mattered most.
New York won the title in five games and erased double-digit deficits in all four wins.
The decisive moment came in Game 4, when the Knicks came back with a record 29 points to take complete control of the series.
For Hart, the warning signs came even before the first game. While the Spurs celebrate making it to the Finals, the Knicks are already focusing on what’s next.
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