SAN ANTONIO — The road to the NBA Finals was not exactly smooth for the San Antonio Spurs.
Seeded second in the Western Conference, the Spurs had — and lost — home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs against the seventh-seeded Portland Trail Blazers before recovering quickly to win the best-of-seven series in five games. In the second round against the sixth-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves, the same thing happened, though it took six games.
And in the conference title series against the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio trailed 2-1 before finding a way to oust the 2025 league champions in seven games, winning the decisive matchup with a bit of late dominance on the road.
And now, the NBA Finals. The Spurs had home-court advantage and lost it right away, dropping Wednesday night’s series opener 105-95 to the New York Knicks, who won the Eastern Conference as a No. 3 seed without facing either of the top two seeds.
Adversity, hello again.