2026 NBA Finals: Storylines, matchups that will define Knicks-Spurs - ESPN

All right, NBA fans: Turn on «Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace,» press play on «Livin' La Vida Loca» and prepare your computer servers for Y2K. It's going to feel like 1999 all over again.

The New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs will tip off a 1999 Finals rematch Wednesday (8:30 p.m. ET on ABC), and the winner will become the eighth unique champion in the past eight seasons.

The NBA has evolved by leaps and bounds since 1999, which was an especially strange season because of a condensed schedule after a lockout. That year's Finals didn't tip off until June 16 — the same day that Game 6 is scheduled for this year. The average final score in the 1999 Finals was Spurs 85, Knicks 80. (By comparison, the Knicks have scored more than 80 points in the first half of two playoff games this spring.) The two teams combined to make 6.4 3-pointers per game — just slightly more than Julian Champagnie made by himself in the Spurs' Game 7 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Rick Brunson, the father of Knicks star Jalen Brunson and a current assistant coach on the team, played in the 1999 series, as did Jaren Jackson Sr., whose son just finished his eighth NBA season. A young assistant coach named Mike Brown was a year away from being hired by the Spurs, while his counterpart in the 2026 Finals, Mitch Johnson, was still in middle school.

But in two key ways, not much has changed since 1999: The Spurs are once again attempting to start a dynasty behind a 22-year-old phenom in the post, while the Knicks are once again trying to win their first NBA title since 1973.

Both teams have done just about everything well in the playoffs so far. They rank first and second in playoff net rating, first and third on offense, and first and