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SAN ANTONIO (AP) — For the San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks, Game 1 of the NBA Finals might feel like old times.
It's the Knicks' ninth time in the title series, and the eighth time they've played Game 1 on the road. It's the Spurs' seventh time in the title series, and the sixth time they've played Game 1 at home.
Granted, a good amount of time has passed for both teams since they've been on this stage: The Knicks haven't played in the finals since losing to the Spurs in 1999, and the Spurs haven't been there since beating the Miami Heat in 2014.
“I think we’re just locked in and focused on the task at hand,” Knicks forward Josh Hart said. “Then we can look back when everything is all said and done and really embrace this process and this run. It’s an honor, but can’t focus too much on the outside world and the run so far.”
The run the Knicks are on coming into this series is without compare: 11 straight wins by a total of 262 points, the most lopsided 11-game run — regular season or playoffs — in NBA history.
The Spurs have a different kind of streak going into Wednesday night. They've never lost Game 1 of the NBA Finals, going 6-0 in openers when they make the title round.
Most players on both teams are making their finals debuts in this series. Spurs guard De'Aaron Fox said it's still going to be important for his team to remember how they got to the finals in the first place.
“This is a hard thing to do. It’s hard to get back to these places,” Fox said. “Don’t change anything that we’re doing. There’s a reason that we’re in the finals. There’s a reason that we won (62) games. There’s a reason we didn’t lose three games in a row the whole year. So, we don’t want to get to this place and then start changing the way we play.”
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
