The Knicks’ Josh Hart knew the Spurs were in trouble after Victor Wembanyama’s screamer
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New York Knicks star Josh Hart knew the San Antonio Spurs were in trouble before they even entered Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
Hart, 31, said the Spurs’ mistake came when they were celebrating after winning Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder. After Spurs eliminated the champions to advance, Victor Wembanyama burst into tears.
“Everybody’s talking to them like, ‘Yo, they’ve got to beat OKC. OKC is going to do it again,'” Hart said during the latest episode of “The Roommates Show” with teammate Jalen Brunson taped at Madison Square Garden on Friday.
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New York Knicks forward Josh Hart looks on after defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers in game three of the Eastern Conference finals of the 2026 NBA playoffs at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on May 23, 2026. (Photos by David Richard/Imagn)
“They beat OKC. For a young team, I feel like that was the top of the mountain for them. That’s when I looked at (Brunson) and I said, ‘You see that reaction? Because they think they’re going to win it. They think it’s over.’
Hart compared the Spurs’ excitement after beating the Thunder to the Knicks’ excitement after sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers to advance to the NBA’s first NBA Finals since 1999.
“You look at the way we reacted after we beat Cleveland – it was hard to celebrate because we were like, ‘We got four more.’ Obviously winning the Eastern Conference is an incredible feat, but we all looked at things like this as just a step. This is not a destination. This is just a step,” Hart said.
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San Antonio Spurs forward Keldon Johnson shoots as New York Knicks guard Josh Hart defends in the second half of Game 4 of the NBA Finals in New York on June 8, 2026. (Al Bello/AP)
“The reaction after Game 4 in Cleveland showed that.”
Hart’s assessment proved to be true, as the young Spurs scored in double figures in all four of their losses to the Knicks.
The Knicks’ composure and tenacity were the team’s trademarks, as three of the five greatest comebacks in NBA Finals history came in this series against the Spurs.
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New York Knicks guard Josh Hart celebrates during the NBA championship in New York on June 18, 2026. (Heather Khalifa/AP)
The Knicks players started celebrating only after defeating the Spurs in Game 5, as they always said that their idea was that the series was “0-0” after all the games.
Hart was his usual self in the NBA Finals, playing strong defense while serving as a strong point guard and facilitator on offense. In the team’s 19 playoff games, Hart averaged 10.4 points, 8.9 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.7 steals per game.
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