Stephen A. Smith’s harsh Game 3 criticism of Jalen Brunson now lands very differently. After calling out Brunson’s shot selection and decision-making following the Knicks’ 115–111 loss to the Spurs at Madison Square Garden, Smith watched the same star guard answer with the biggest finish of New York’s season.
The Knicks went on to win the 2026 NBA Finals in Game 5, beating San Antonio 94–90 behind Brunson’s 45-point closeout performance. That makes this story less about a collapse at MSG and more about how one ugly night, one loud critique, and one historic response shaped the final turn of New York’s first championship run since 1973.
The night everything fell apart at the Garden
The Knicks walked into MSG riding a 13-game postseason winning streak and a strong 2-0 series lead over San Antonio. The atmosphere inside the Garden was fully electric, and the crowd was absolutely ready for history. A sweep felt genuinely possible, and nobody in New York expected what came next.
San Antonio outscored New York 33-22 in the first quarter and never truly let the Knicks breathe all night comfortably. The Spurs pulled off a 115-111 win, snapping New York’s historic playoff streak and cutting the Finals to 2-1. The legendary Mecca of basketball had become a house of horrors.
Smith put the loss squarely on Brunson
Stephen A. Smith did not wait long to assign blame loudly after the final buzzer sounded inside MSG on Monday night. Speaking on ESPN’s First Take on June 9, he singled out Jalen Brunson as the biggest reason the Knicks fell short. His words were pointed, passionate, and very personal.
“Jalen Brunson. I gotta put this loss on him just as much as anybody,” Smith said on First Take. Smith acknowledged Brunson is a genuine star but argued that pure individual heroics replaced smart team basketball at the worst possible moment. That dramatic shift in offensive approach, in Smith’s strong view, cost New York the game entirely.
The MVP chase that Smith could not ignore
Smith’s sharpest accusation was that Brunson looked like a player clearly chasing personal glory rather than a championship ring. He said it out loud in a way that visibly stunned his own co-hosts sitting right beside him. It was the kind of scorching take that instantly dominated sports social media.
“Tonight it looked like he was playing to be the MVP rather than playing to win Game 3,” Smith said. Brunson finished with 32 points on 25 shot attempts while shooting just 44 percent from the field in a crucial game. For a player of his elite caliber, that level of heavy volume without efficiency raised serious red flags.
The ball movement problem Smith highlighted
Smith did not just criticize Brunson’s excessive shooting volume and questionable decision-making throughout the entire game on Monday night. He zeroed in on something far deeper, which was the total collapse of New York’s team-first offensive identity. Post-game numbers told a story that was genuinely very difficult to argue against.
The Knicks made 40 field goals but managed only 18 assists, their lowest single-assist total of the entire 2026 postseason run. Smith said flatly this was simply not the New York Knicks he recognized or expected to watch. San Antonio then converted 13 Knicks turnovers into 21 punishing points.
Karl-Anthony Towns was left out of the offense
Smith could not understand why the Knicks repeatedly ignored one of their most dangerous offensive weapons down the stretch. Karl-Anthony Towns had been utterly dominant in the first two games, but Game 3 told a completely different story altogether. The big man practically vanished from New York’s entire offensive game plan.
Towns attempted just 10 shots all night and finished with only 11 points on the biggest imaginable stage. Smith pointed out that San Antonio had no real answer for him, making his underuse all the more baffling to watch. The size mismatch was right there, and New York ignored it.
Brunson answered the criticism with a title
Smith got part of what he wanted in Game 4, when the Knicks erased a 29-point deficit and beat the Spurs 107–106 on OG Anunoby’s tip-in with 1.2 seconds left. Brunson scored 36 points in that comeback, while Anunoby added 33 in one of the wildest Finals games Madison Square Garden has ever seen.
But the real answer came in Game 5. Brunson scored 45 points as the Knicks beat San Antonio 94–90, won the series 4–1, and claimed their first NBA championship since 1973. The same player Smith accused of chasing MVP-style basketball ended the series as Finals MVP, turning the criticism into part of the championship arc.
Little-known fact: The last time the Knicks hosted an NBA Finals game at Madison Square Garden was 1999. Ironically, that series was also against the San Antonio Spurs, and San Antonio won that one, too.
TL;DR
- The Knicks lost Game 3 of the 2026 NBA Finals 115–111 to the Spurs at MSG, ending their 13-game postseason winning streak.
- Stephen A. Smith criticized Jalen Brunson on First Take, saying Brunson looked like he was playing for MVP rather than simply winning Game 3.
- Brunson had 32 points on 11-of-25 shooting with five turnovers in that loss, while Karl-Anthony Towns attempted only 10 shots.
- Trump’s Game 3 attendance also added a security storyline, with the MSG-area watch party canceled and fans told to arrive early for heightened screening.
- The article must now mention that the Knicks later won Game 5, captured the title 4–1, and Brunson finished the series as Finals MVP.
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This article was made with AI assistance and human editing.
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