Enjoyers, we made it. The NBA Finals tip off TONIGHT! 🔥
Here’s how that has us feeling:
Today’s Lineup
🏆 Finals Preview!
Three key elements to watch out for in tonight’s game 1.
🕰️ On this Day: NBA Playoff History
Rewinding MJ’s Shrug game, 34 years ago today!
🙏 RIP, Rick Adelman
A tribute to Rick Adelman.
🎉 Happy birthday Al Horford, Jalen Suggs, Otto Porter Jr! 🎉
NBA Finals Preview
The wait is finally over. 😎
After eight months of thoroughly enjoying the 82 game regular season and the first three rounds of the playoffs, the 2026 NBA Finals are here! Game 1 between the Spurs and Knicks tips off tonight, and we couldn’t be more excited to see these two elite squads go back and forth to decide who’s going to be holding the Larry O’Brien Trophy and place themselves in the history books as champions.
To get into the Finals spirit (even more than we already are) here are three key exciting elements to look out for in game 1 tonight:
The Return of the Larry O’Brien Trophy/Finals logo on the court
Outside of the high quality basketball being played, the on-court aesthetics and presentation are part of what makes The Finals, The Finals. For the past decade, the league decided to go away from their tradition of placing the Finals logo on each end of the court, along with the placement of the Larry O’Brien trophy at center court. This year, we’re so happy to see that they’re back, making our viewing experience even more special and giving us that real ‘Finals’ feel!
Rest vs Rust
The Spurs and Knicks respective roads to the finals looked much different. The Knicks took care of business swiftly and smoothly, sweeping the Cavs in the ECF, which granted them an extra week of rest while they awaited their Finals opponent. The Spurs, on the other hand, are just a few days removed from a grueling seven games series against the defending champs, and now have to quickly turn around and focus on New York. This begs the question, which team has the advantage, the rested but potentially out-of-rhythm Knicks, or the more fatigued but sharp Spurs? 🤔
The PG Matchup: Castle vs Brunson
One of the many intriguing pieces of this series has to be the point guard matchup between Stephon Castle and Jalen Brunson. After holding two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to just 41% from the field for seven games in the WCF, the young Castle now has yet another tall task at hand with defending the shifty Brunson, who’s been elite on the offensive end all postseason long (26.9 PTS, 48% FG, 35% 3PT). This series leaves no shortage of elite positional matchups, but keep an eye on the PG matchup especially in game 1. 👀
🧠 Daily Trivia 🧠
On this Day: NBA Playoff History
June 3rd, 1992: The Iconic MJ Shrug Game
With Game 1 of the Finals tipping off tonight, let’s take a rewind and show some love to another Finals opener that took place 34 years ago today, the infamous Michael Jordan Shrug game!
The 1992 NBA Finals were highly anticipated- and for good reason. This series was a matchup between the two best shooting guards in the league at the time, MJ and Clyde Drexler. Prior to the series, the media had drawn several comparisons between Drexler/MJ, comparisons that did not sit right with Jordan, as he mentioned in the Last Dance documentary.
How did MJ respond? You know, the usual….just a light 39 point, 11 assist performance where he also broke the NBA Finals record with six made threes in the first half alone. Oh, and the Bulls throttled Portland 122-89.
Like we said, the usual. 😅
This historic opening game performance from Jordan not only set the tone for the entire series (CHI won the series in six games), but this game also gave us one of MJ’s most iconic and signature moments, ‘The Shrug.’
Six threes in a single half might not seem like a whole lot in 2026, but 34 years ago, being that hot from deep on that high of volume was practically unheard of. Not to mention, MJ himself only made 27 threes for the entire 1991-92 regular season, so it’s no wonder even HE was a little surprised at the excellence he was putting out on the court, hence the shrug…
Take a look for yourself at the mesmerizing highlights from this game, and watch the greatness unfold: ⬇️
Around the Association
Hall of Fame head coach Rick Adelman Passes Away at the age of 79
The NBA family lost a beloved member earlier this week.
Rick Adelman, one of the most longest tenured and highly successful coaches in NBA history sadly passed away on Monday at the age of 79.
After an eight year career as a player, Adelman spent 29 years as an NBA coach including 23 as a head coach, most famously leading the Kings to their golden era of basketball in the early 2000s, where his teams were in title contention season after season, including being one win away from the NBA Finals in 2002.
When he retired from coaching in 2014, he walked away with the 10th most wins from a head coach in NBA history, and was highly regarded as a coach and more importantly as a person from his players, colleagues, and family. He was also an inspiration for his son David Adelman to enter the coaching world, who now is the head coach of the Denver Nuggets.
Rest in Peace, Rick Adelman. 🙏
Three in the Key
🏈 Enjoying Football!
The NFL saw a blockbuster trade go down on Monday…
🍿 Air Corgi strikes again
Air Corgi makes his NBA Finals prediction!
🔮 A touch of Magic
What are your thoughts on the Magic’s new jerseys?
What We’re Enjoying
Usually in a 2 vs 1, the ‘2’ comes out on top over the ‘1’. However, our guy Kenny is no ordinary ‘1’ when it comes to ball knowledge.
Watch as our guys from Numbers on the Board matchup in a head-to-head NBA Finals trivia to find out who takes home the W! ⬇️
Signing Off
That’s all for today, Enjoyers! We appreciate you making us a part of your day. We’ll be back on Friday to catch you up on everything that went down in game 1 on the NBA Finals.
See you then!
Bobby Kasmire
