Rich Breaks Down the “Epic Narratives” Heading into the Knicks-Spurs NBA Finals Pivotal Game 4

The epic narratives heading into Game 4 of Knicks-Spurs all orbit one no-call: Victor Wembanyama shoving Jalen Brunson to the floor in Game 3, the NBA reviewing it for a possible flagrant, and the league ultimately deciding nothing was coming. As Rich laid it out, that single non-call has set the table for everything tonight in Madison Square Garden.

Start with the tabloids, because that's where Rich started. The front page of the New York Post ran the shove as a literal wanted poster. "The wanted poster is Wembanyama shoving Brunson down for crimes against the Knicks," Rich said. "Alias Wemby, height 7'4, nationality French, charge flagrant foul, reward NBA trophy." The back page leaned in too, branding Wembanyama "skinny pop" under the headline that the angry Knicks vow to hit back after the cheap shot on their captain.

The stakes on the flagrant were real. Wembanyama already carries two flagrant points from a thrown elbow against Minnesota earlier in the playoffs, the one that got him ejected but not suspended. Cross four points and it's an automatic suspension. The league looked, and as Rich noted, said no flagrant was coming.

That feeds the bigger storyline: who protects Brunson? Rich was blunt about the problem. The Knicks' best player is listed at 6'2", and their would-be enforcer, Jose Alvarado, "might go up to Wemby's thigh." Alvarado vowed Wembanyama got away with it once and that'll be the last time, but as Rich put it, "Wemby could just knock him over with a stare." Al Harrington has chimed in. Draymond Green said if Wembanyama shoved Steph over the way he shoved Brunson, he'd have been ejected on the spot.

Then there's the officiating, the narrative Rich kept circling back to. The Spurs shot 24 free throws in the second half of Game 3 to just eight for the Knicks. Tonight's crew is Zac Zarba, voted the league's best official by the players, plus James Williams and Courtney Kirkland. Scott Foster and Tony Brothers are off the court.

So Rich's read: a hyper-aware Knicks crowd, a cauldron from jump. Every touch on a Knick gets watched. And if anyone dares shove Brunson again, the question is who goes chest to chest.