If there’s a saving grace from the bedlam that is about to ensue in New York City on Saturday, with the Knicks on the verge of a championship and Brazil taking on Morocco in the World Cup, it is that Game 5 of the NBA Finals is on the road.

San Antonio Spurs fans have been here before, and they’re not going anywhere.

Getting to the NBA Finals proves that the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs have made plenty of smart moves along the way.

The last time the New York Knicks made the NBA Finals, the San Antonio Spurs were the opponent and just happened to have a generational big-man talent who was heading to the title round for the first time.

Victor Wembanyama had 28 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks and the San Antonio Spurs sent the Western Conference finals back to Oklahoma City for Game 7, routing the Thunder 118-91 on Thursday night.

The New York Knicks made a commitment to Jalen Brunson four years ago, signing him as a free agent and building their team around him.

76ers rookie V.

Victor Wembanyama scored 35 points in his playoff debut and the San Antonio Spurs rolled to a 111-98 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 1 of their first-round Western Conference series.

Victor Wembanyama has met every expectation since joining the San Antonio Spurs three years ago.

The NCAA Tournament is down to a Sweet 16 void of mid-majors for the second straight season.

Star freshman Cameron Boozer battled through a rough night for No. 1 Duke against Virginia's Ugonna Onyenso inside in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament title game.

Isaiah Evans scored 20 points, Cameron Boozer made two free throws with 3.9 seconds to seal the game and No. 1 Duke defeated No. 10 Virginia 74-70 on Saturday night for its second straight Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship under coach Jon Scheyer and its third title in the past four years.

For two solid decades, LeBron James was a main attraction at every NBA All-Star weekend.

The San Antonio Spurs can open the season 5-0 for the first time in franchise history.

The San Antonio Spurs have unveiled a banner celebrating Gregg Popovich.

Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Denver’s Nikola Jokic and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo were the only players to appear on every MVP ballot this season.

Gregg Popovich stepped down.

A list of moments in the coaching career of San Antonio's Gregg Popovich, who stepped down on Friday.

It was the year of the long winning streak in the NBA.

Michael Malone paid the price for the myriad problems plaguing the Denver Nuggets this season.

The game hasn’t gotten easy for the Los Angeles Lakers since the trade deadline.

North Carolina coach Hubert Davis has signed a two-year extension running through the 2029-30 season.

There was a conversation that Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James had with Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic during last year’s All-Star Game that went viral, since microphones picked up the exchange.

NBA coaches are obviously convinced: Victor Wembanyama is one of the league’s very best players.

Caitlin Clark turned 23 on Wednesday.

When LeBron James broke another NBA record earlier this month, the one for most regular-season minutes played in a career, his Los Angeles Lakers teammates handled the moment in typical locker room fashion.

Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid says he won't force himself to play more games to meet the NBA MVP requirement if he's not healthy enough to play.

Gregg Popovich didn't want to be inducted into Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame until the players that helped his teams win NBA championships had already gone in.

After being pulled in many directions as one of the most hyped prospects in the NBA history, French phenom Victor Wembanyama is finally enjoying being a player again.

The first dinner that Victor Wembanyama had in his new home city was filled with San Antonio royalty.

The San Antonio Spurs are looking to end their four-year playoff drought with the addition of Victor Wembanyama.

Adieu France, hello America.

Victor Wembanyama’s NBA draft experience will be quite unlike last year’s No. 1 pick.

When a generational talent like Victor Wembanyama comes along, it’s clear that he would make any team that he’s with better in a multitude of ways.

The Basketball Hall of Fame has added 16 new members.

Manu Ginobili is a four-time NBA champion with the San Antonio Spurs.

He hit a championship-winning shot with Michael Jordan.

Michael Jordan gave way to LeBron James in the NBA of the 2000s, just as traditional forms of communication began to yield to the birth and growth of new media.

Gregg Popovich became the winningest coach in NBA regular-season history Friday night, getting his 1,336th victory when the San Antonio Spurs rallied to beat the Utah Jazz 104-102.

Red Auerbach.

Manu Ginobili, a four-time NBA champion who spent his entire career with the San Antonio Spurs, headlines this year’s group of finalists for induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Keita Bates-Diop scored a career-high 30 points and the San Antonio Spurs routed the slumping Los Angeles Lakers 138-110 in the final event at Staples Center under the 22-year-old arena’s original name.

Kobe Bryant is in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame now, along with contemporaries Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett, headliners of a group of nine who got their delayed and long-awaited enshrinement on Saturday night, more than a year after being announced as the Hall’s Class of 2020.

Vanessa Bryant got a private tour to see some of the newly remodeled Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday, viewing the exhibit that will honor the life and legacy of her late husband before the rest of the world gets their first look.

Kobe.

Michael Jordan will present Kobe Bryant for induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame next month.

Hammon became the first woman to direct an NBA team, taking over the Spurs after coach Gregg Popovich was ejected in a 121-107 loss to the Lakers. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)SAN ANTONIO – Becky Hammon would have preferred a victory over history after becoming the first woman to direct an NBA team. The Lakers took their first double-digit lead at 35-25 on Kyle Kuzma’s 3-pointer with 1:14 remaining in the first quarter. Lakers coach Frank Vogel did not elaborate on Caruso’s status. Spurs: Popovich said the Spurs will monitor Aldridge’s knee soreness on a day-to-day basis.

San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, right, talks to assistant coaches Becky Hammon, center, and Will Hardy during the second half of the team's NBA basketball game against the Toronto Raptors, Saturday, Dec. 26, 2020, in San Antonio. San Antonio won 119-114. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)SAN ANTONIO – Becky Hammon became the first woman to direct a team in NBA history, taking over the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Lakers following Gregg Popovich’s ejection in the first half. Hammon took over the team's huddles during timeouts and walked the sideline following Popovich’s ejection. A three-time All-American at Colorado State, Hammon played for the New York Liberty and San Antonio Stars in the WNBA as well as overseas before retiring to join Popovich’s staff in 2014.

Earlier in this postseason, he also became the all-time leader in playoff road wins. For the first time in NBA history, road teams have a winning record through the first two rounds of the playoffs. The Lakers are 3-0 in the playoffs as the road team so far, which has pushed James total for road playoff wins to 65 two more than Tim Duncan managed in his two decades with San Antonio. Nobody impacts winning more than LeBron James, Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. The difference was the supporting casts, and Rajon Rondos 21 points and nine assists were enormous for the Lakers.

Playoff teams will split a record $23,287,266 for making the NBA postseason, a figure that's up about $1.6 million from last year. And the Milwaukee Bucks stand to grab the biggest share of a pool ever, if they win the NBA title. The biggest slices, of course, go to the teams that make the NBA Finals. For winning the NBA title last season, the Toronto Raptors split $5.6 million from the playoff pool. And the last time an NBA Finals had two non-division-winning teams was 2007, when San Antonio topped Cleveland.

This story was transmitted in 2004 from the Athens Olympics. ___Bronze is the best the American mens basketball team can do, and the reason is simple: They were beaten by a better team, Argentina. NBA commissioner David Stern attended the third loss of the Athens Games for the Americans, who entered the tournament with a 109-2 record in prior Olympics. The Americans shot just 36 percent in the first half and didnt hit their first 3-pointer missing their first five until LeBron James made one 30 seconds before halftime. Argentina shot 54 percent overall and 11-for-22 from 3-point range, while the Americans finished just 32-for-77 (42 percent) and 3-for-11 on 3s.

Those games went final shortly before San Antonio was playing its final game of the season, against Utah. The 76ers, starting as the Syracuse Nationals before moving to Philadelphia, went to the playoffs every year from 1950 through 1971. This is how long the streak, all of it with Gregg Popovich as head coach of the Spurs, went: David Stern wasnt even halfway through his 30-year run as commissioner when the Spurs streak started. And the Spurs won 170 playoff games in that span; only seven franchises have more playoff wins in their entire history. There were 102 players who got into at least one Spurs playoff game during the streak, including current NBA head coaches Jacque Vaughn, Steve Kerr and Monty Williams.

A win by the Trail Blazers over Philadelphia would eliminate New Orleans from postseason consideration. Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry called it a Game 7-type game beforehand but stayed with the plan of playing Williamson in short bursts. In the fourth, Gentry took Williamson out with 6:53 left, putting him back in for the last-ditch try about two minutes later. Williamson scored the next eight points by himself, kick-starting what became a 28-12 run by the Pelicans to end the quarter. DeRozan scored inside on the next San Antonio possession, and a late 8-0 spurt by the Spurs sealed the deal.

Popovich was not serving as head coach for the game against the Milwaukee Bucks. It is unclear if Popovich will wear a mask for the entirety of the Spurs time at Disney. Popovich was the coach who spoke in the teams pregame news conference and followed NBA rules by wearing a mask in that availability. GIANNIS' FOULSBucks star and reigning NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo had five first-half fouls in his team's scrimmage opener against San Antonio. The last time a player had five first-half fouls in an NBA game that counted was Dec. 7, 2013, when Utah's Mike Harris did it against Sacramento.

(CNN) - It's been only three years since Tim Duncan retired from the basketball court, but he's making his return, this time as a coach. The San Antonio Spurs announced Monday that fans will see a familiar face on the sidelines this season when Duncan takes on the role of assistant coach. "It is only fitting, that after I served loyally for 19 years as Tim Duncan's assistant, that he returns the favor," head coach Gregg Popovich said in a team statement. Duncan played 19 seasons with the Spurs, winning five NBA titles and two MVP awards. Former team intern Will Hardy was also announced as an assistant coach.