The China Mail - Knicks ready to 'throw the first punch' in NBA Finals

"In every game we've played in the Finals, we've put ourselves in a position where we have to start fighting immediately," Knicks star big man Karl-Anthony Towns said on Tuesday.

"Every time we find a way to get back into the game, but we can't trust that's going to happen every single time. The Spurs have done a great job starting in the game, dictating the pace.

"We have to try to be the first ones to throw the first punch."

San Antonio's 115-111 victory in game three on Monday lifted the Spurs within 2-1 in the best-of-seven series with crucial game four in New York on Wednesday.

"Our attention to detail needs to be better," Knicks scoring leader Jalen Brunson said. "We need to be ready to go. Very vague thing to say. I think it's very simple as well. Just need to be ready."

Having lost for the first time in more than a month, the Knicks must continue to learn, Brunson said.

"Win, we learn. Lose, we learn. We understand what we have to do to be better -- giving our team a chance to have the ball and not turn it over. Stop fouling. Just attention to detail, continue to be who we are."

Towns, who has yet to score in the fourth quarter in the Finals, said passing and fundamentals must improve.

"We've got to pick up the ball movement, for sure," he said. "We'll get back to fundamentals, what makes us great.

"We've played defense at a high level. The details that made us special, we were too relaxed in them and we didn't execute them at the level.

"There's a lot of things that we needed to do better for ourselves to give ourselves a chance to win and we just didn't do."

Told about Knicks supporters attacking Spurs fans at viewing parties in New York, Towns had a message to calm the violence.

"The game is built off respect and passion. We want everyone to respect each other," he said. "We want everyone to enjoy basketball at its purest state. It's the NBA Finals. There's no better place to watch basketball.

"Leave the physicality to everyone on the court."

English forward OG Anunoby said the Knicks must avoid turnovers.

"We were making turnovers that were uncharacteristic of us, just being sloppy with the ball, not being on the same page," Anunoby said.

"We're going to try to clean it up. We're going to keep watching film and try to keep those mistakes from happening again."

That also means setting a tone from the start in game four.

"Just coming out from the start aggressive, playing the way we play, our style, being physical, getting stops, running in transition, moving the ball, taking good shots," Anunoby said.

- 'Nobody is panicking' -

Knicks guard Josh Hart is counting on improved defensive work, especially on keeping Spurs star Victor Wembanyama from getting inside.

"I'm sure we're going to change some things and switch up some schemes to protect the paint because those guys are very dynamic when they touch the paint. Wemby, when he rolls, he brings in a crowd," Hart said.

Knicks coach Mike Brown expects the body banging to start early.

"We have to up our level of physicality, especially at the start of the games, and try to maintain it throughout the course without fouling," Brown said.

"We have a veteran group. Nobody is panicking or anything like that... We feel like we can play a lot better than what we did. We're looking forward to going out on the floor and showing it."

A.Zhang--ThChM