Are the Knicks or Spurs Under More Pressure to Get a W in the NBA Finals GM4?

The Knicks are under more pressure than the Spurs to win Game 4, and Rich made the case plainly: "It's all on the Knicks tonight."

The setup, as Rich laid it out, is a New York team that went into San Antonio and stole two road games to take a two-games-to-none lead, then dropped Game 3 at Madison Square Garden. That loss flipped the math. "If the Spurs respond by taking two in the garden to make it a best of three series with the Spurs having home court advantage," Rich said, the Knicks suddenly need to scratch out a win on their home floor just to avoid going back to San Antonio.

So why the Knicks and not the Spurs?

Rich's logic is about what tomorrow's conversation becomes. "If you lose tonight, you have blown a 2-0 lead on the road going back to your house where you don't have to play another," he said. Lose Game 4 at home, and "all the talk tomorrow is going to be like, 'Spurs got it. Knicks blew it. They had their chance.' That's the only conversation."

He stripped away every excuse, too. No bad vibes in the building tonight. The watch parties are on. "Nobody's sleeping during the games. Like all on the Knicks tonight."

Not everyone bought it. The counter from the room: if the Knicks lose, it's still a tied series, and they would be heading back to a place where they just won twice. Rich didn't blink. To him, the players might remember those two San Antonio wins, but the noise around the team forgets fast. "That is totally forgotten in everyone's mind. That might as well have been a month ago."

There's a flip side, and the room pushed it. If the Spurs lose Game 4, San Antonio faces becoming the first team to ever drop the first two games of an NBA Finals on its home court, then has to win three in a row against a Knicks group that just bounced back from a 13-game playoff win streak. "If the Spurs don't win it, look out, man," Rich allowed. Pressure can shift.

There was also the matter of Game 3 itself. Wemby dominated early, the Knicks fell behind double digits, clawed to a seven-point halftime lead, then watched it slip. "The Knicks didn't make a fourth quarter three-pointer until it was too late," as Rich put it. "Horse is out of the barn." The Spurs also missed seven free throws in a game that "shouldn't have been close at all."

The room landed split, but Rich never moved off his pick. The Knicks better win tonight.