No NBA team has ever come back from down 3-0 in a best-of-seven playoff series and now the San Antonio Spurs don’t have to try.

For the third straight game, the young Western Conference champions had a lead over the more veteran New York Knicks in the final minutes, but for the first time they were able to close it out, squeezing out a 115-111 win. They will now try to even the series in Game 4 on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden (Sportsnet, Sportsnet at 8:30 p.m. ET).

The Spurs held the Knicks to 7-of-27 shooting in the final frame, which was crucial, given San Antonio shot just 6-of-21 themselves. But Victor Wembanyama was able find a way to score 10 of his game-high 32 points down the stretch, polishing off his best game of the series with eight rebounds, six assists and three blocks by going 8-of-9 from the free throw line, including a perfect 6-of-6 in the fourth. 

The Spurs needed every made shot as the Knicks pushed the game to the limit with a pair of threes in the final 33 seconds by Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby that cut the lead to two with 9.4 seconds left before Spurs guard Stephon Castle iced it with a pair of free throws. 

It was a disappointing end to a magical night for Knicks fans, delirious at the notion of their team playing a Finals game at the Garden with a chance to take a 3-0 lead in their quest to win their first championship since 1973.

Without the added security from Game 3, getting into the Garden should be a little easier for Game 4, but the task of eliminating the Spurs just got a little harder. 

Basketball can call a lot of places home. It’s rooted in the fabric of rural Indiana, as captured by the movie Hoosiers, which was inspired by tiny Milan High School’s run to the 1954 state championship. In Europe, Serbia and Lithuania would make a similar claim. The game was invented by a Canadian, James Naismith.

But there’s never been a question of New York City’s bona fides. In 1970, Pete Axthelm wrote The City Game, Basketball from the playground to the Garden, tracing the New York Knicks' first........

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