Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs had gone undefeated in February, building their longest winning streak since a 13-0 run in the 2015-16 season.
Wembanyama, who had struggled in the Spurs’ last two wins, came out firing, but the French superstar’s 25 points, 13 rebounds and four blocked shots weren’t enough. Devin Vassell with 18 points and Stephon Castle with 13 were the only other Spurs players to score in double figures.
They hit just nine of 34 from three-point range and were harried into their season-high 22 turnovers that the Knicks parlayed into 24 points. Bridges came up big on the defensive end with five steals.
“Good win by our guys,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said.
“(San Antonio) is a really good team. They obviously missed some shots, but I thought our weak side defence was really good,” he added. “For them to shoot 26, 27 percent from (three-point range), our activity on the weak side was really good.”
San Antonio got off to a quick start and led by as many as 12 in the first quarter, but the Knicks were up by one at the end of the first period and never trailed again, using a 26-2 scoring run spanning the first and second quarters to seize control.
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 12 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for the Knicks, who had six players score in double figures and held the Spurs to their season-low in points. (AFP)
Edited by Cecil Wong
