The Bounce Newsletter | This is The Athletic’s daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox.During last night’s first quarter of Game 1 of the NBA Finals, the San Antonio Spurs ran a video on the jumbotron. The Coyote mascot bashed three stone pieces with a sledgehammer. The stones had the Blazers, Wolves and Thunder logos for each playoff round. Then the Coyote smashed one with the Knicks logo. I don’t think you can do that in Game 1!Dandy dozenKnicks have won 12 straight playoff gamesBack in 1999, the Spurs reeled off a 12-game winning streak during the postseason. They lost Game 2 in the first round to Minnesota, then rattled off a dozen straight by closing out the Wolves in four (remember, they were five-game series then), sweeping the Lakers and Trail Blazers in the next two rounds and winning the first two games of the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks. Then the Knicks snapped that streak in Game 3 before the Spurs closed out and won the title in Game 5.Fast-forward to the present day, and the Knicks are following a very similar path with their own 12-game playoff winning streak. After going down 2-1 to Atlanta in Game 3 of the first round, they’ve won out — beating the Hawks in six, sweeping the 76ers and Cavaliers and taking Game 1 against the Spurs, 105-95. It’s their 11th victory by double digits during this streak. Last night’s win feels a little bit different for two reasons:1) It’s the NBA Finals. I mean … of course. This is the biggest stage, and the Knicks coming back from being down 14 in the second half in San Antonio is easily their biggest win of the postseason.2) It’s the quality of the opponent. Plenty of people have dismissed New York’s playoff dominance or watered it down because of the teams they played. Well, the Spurs are about as good as it gets, and the Knicks beat them too. I was in the building for Game 1, and there were big, loud patches of Knicks fans who infiltrated the Frost Bank Center. They’d start a Knicks chant, and then the Spurs fans would try to drown out the noise. It became more and more difficult for them when the Knicks went on their fourth-quarter run to take the lead. And then there was the fan who ran on the court in the fourth quarter to take a selfie with Victor Wembanyama.There’s so much to be dissected here. Let’s do a Game 1 Stock Report overreaction!📈 First-half Dylan Harper: No part of him seemed like he was a rookie in his first finals minutes. He scored 12 points off the bench in the first half and only needed five shots to do it.📉 Second-half Harper: The mysticism went away, and the Spurs were pretty bad with him on the floor. He had four points on five shots in the third, and then was mostly inconsequential in the fourth before Mitch Johnson subbed him out.📈 First-half Julian Champagnie: He was looking like Ray Allen on the Miami Heat. He had 15 points, going 5-of-6 from deep.📉 Second-half Champagnie: He had one point on 0-of-5 shooting, including 0-of-4 from deep. Still a good game, overall, but the Spurs needed some makes in the fourth quarter.📉 First-three-quarters Jalen Brunson: He hurt his leg, then hurt his ankle on another play. He was hobbled and even went back to the locker room at one point. Brunson’s play on the court was also rough. He had 17 points but needed 22 shots to get them.📈 Fourth-quarter Brunson: As our James Edwards III put it, he’s simply one of the great clutch scorers the sport has ever seen. Brunson found his rhythm and helped the Knicks close out the game with 13 fourth-quarter points on 5-of-9 shooting. Yeah, he was 12-of-31 overall for his 30 points, but the way he closed was special.