Knicks vs. Spurs: Previewing the 2026 NBA Finals (w/ Rachel Nichols)
Open Floor: SI's NBA Show
SI NBA
4.5 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 3 June 2026
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Chris Mannix and Rachel Nichols break down the Finals matchup between the Knicks and Spurs, whether Mitchell Robinson's hand injury will be a major factor, whether the lack of rest will benefit the Spurs, and which player's legacy will be affected the most by a win.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Now playing. |
| 0:01.5 | Open floor. |
| 0:03.1 | This is Open Floor. |
| 0:05.3 | Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix back at it. |
| 0:07.7 | An NBA podcast with Sports Illustrated senior writer. |
| 0:11.5 | I think it's time that the world get to know. |
| 0:14.1 | My guy Chris Manix. |
| 0:15.4 | I think your opinion is shared by everyone. |
| 0:17.1 | And now it begins. |
| 0:18.3 | Now it begins. |
| 0:19.6 | Bang! |
| 0:22.8 | All right, Rachel Nichols. I was saying this to somebody earlier today. I began my NBA reporting |
| 0:30.4 | career just as the Spurs were becoming ascendant during the Tim Duncan, Managenobly, Tony Parker era. And now it feels like |
| 0:43.1 | we're right back to that, where it's, we have an ascendant San Antonio Spurs team that is going to |
| 0:49.6 | make sure that for the majority of June, we are in San Antonio year after year. Do you get that vibe as well |
| 0:58.3 | being back here on the Riverwalk? I do. I remember the series sort of span you're talking about. |
| 1:05.2 | I'd much rather be going back and forth between here and New York City than here. And it wasn't |
| 1:10.4 | even Detroit back then. It was like |
| 1:12.1 | the wilds of Michigan, right? I guess I didn't realize this. I predate you in Spurs |
| 1:18.1 | dynasties because I covered the David Robinson Tim Duncan teams. And certainly when we talk about |
| 1:25.9 | the last time the Knicks were in the final, I was already covering the NBA then. Didn't do so well for that next team, but should be better for this next team. Yeah, officially a rematch of the 1999 NBA Finals. Of course, a lot has changed since then. We're going to unpack a lot of that. We both just came from good old Media Day. I know. we're here in San Antonio. In San Antonio, at Media Day on Tuesday. I don't know what to take away from Media Days. It's very manicured now. It's very... Used to be a little bit more like, little loosey-goosey guys were hanging out. They were sitting in the stands. Some of them, you'd have a decent conversation, maybe pick up a little bit more like, hey, you really get to talk to guys. A, loosey guys were hanging out. They were sitting in the stands. |
| 2:01.1 | Some of them, you'd have a decent conversation, maybe pick up a little bit of a nugget. Now, they don't even have podiums on the floor. Not that they were any great shakes, because a lot of times it was just a bunch of cameras taken up a lot of space. But it at least created a little bit. It's a lot more buckled down than it used to be. |
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