The Bounce Newsletter | This is The Athletic’s daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox.On this date in 1985, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored 29 points to help the Los Angeles Lakers close out the Boston Celtics in six games. Kareem finished the NBA Finals averaging 25.7 points, 9.0 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.5 blocks while shooting 60.4 percent from the field. It earned him a unanimous finals MVP, making him the oldest to do so at 38 years old. It’s one of the few records he still has over LeBron James … for now.Vibe changeWemby, Spurs figure out how to beat Knicksbout an hour after the San Antonio Spurs beat the New York Knicks 115-111 in Game 3 of the NBA Finals last night, I exited Madison Square Garden to write this newsletter. Because of the attendance of President Trump, the streets that surround “the world’s most famous arena” were basically empty. They were barricaded, with hundreds of police keeping the area around MSG completely free of Knicks fans and people in the city.It was a very different vibe than what everybody in New York City has experienced over the last month. The Knicks had won 13 straight playoff games. They had two different stretches during the postseason with more than a week of rest. The Knicks were historic in every way. And they still might end up being that. They still lead the finals 2-1, but everything was off last night. No win. No streets flooded with Knicks fans. No celebrating.The fans were exasperated with the police presence. They were furious with the officiating. And for the first time in a really long time — since April 23, to be exact — they were coping with what a loss feels like.The Knicks had a moment in the second quarter when it felt like they’d push the win streak to 14 games. They outscored the Spurs 42-24 in the quarter, once again fueled by OG Anunoby and Jalen Brunson.Instead of a full-on collapse, the Spurs showed some poise and figured out how to play through that rough patch. They turned the Knicks into a team settling for jumpers and hesitating on when to shoot them. They also forced the issue to get to the free-throw line (24-8 on attempts in the second half for San Antonio), and had the Knicks focusing on the officials. This led to a lot of impromptu chants by MSG that were less than flattering toward the officials and some of the Spurs players.The officiating will be the story of this game, and maybe it should be part of the discussion. It wasn’t a well-officiated game, but I’m not sure how one-sided it was. It just felt inconsistent throughout the night. The Knicks lost because they didn’t execute down the stretch on both ends of the floor. They didn’t match the desperation of the Spurs in the biggest stretches of the game outside of that second-quarter dominance.Victor Wembanyama was awesome, finishing with 32 points, eight rebounds, six assists, two steals, three blocks and one turnover. He finally figured out how to both attack and defend Karl-Anthony Towns, who took a step back. But the key help came from Stephon Castle. He struggled so much in Game 2, but came up huge with 23 points, five rebounds and five assists. He also knocked down two clutch free throws to put the game out of reach in the final seconds.