The Spurs open Game 1 of the NBA Finals tonight at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio.

Why it matters: The Spurs, who take on the New York Knicks, are the closest thing Austin has to an NBA franchise — they play a couple home games a year here.

• Austin can vicariously (and tenuously) claim to be an NBA championship city if the Spurs win the best-of-seven series.

The big picture: The matchup offers another major test for first-year head coach Mitch Johnson, who has guided the franchise from the Gregg Popovich era into championship contention.

• Along with their phenom Victor Wembanyama, several key Spurs contributors, including Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper, are also playing in the Finals for the first time.

The other side: The Knicks, led by Jalen Brunson, are riding a historic 11-game playoff winning streak.

Threat level: The Spurs and Knicks met three times during the regular season. The Spurs won one game and the Knicks won the other two.

Yes, but: The Spurs are favored to win the series.

What they're saying: Here are some of the best takeaways from Johnson, Wembanyama, Castle and Julian Champagnie, at Tuesday's media day.

• Johnson on Popovich's guidance: "The relationship has stayed the same in terms of feedback, discussion, challenging each other, supporting each other, me asking him a lot of questions, him giving me a lot of wisdom."
• Champagnie on playing in New York, his hometown: "I have a lot of friends who are New York fans and I would love to spoil their plans."
• Wembanyama on meeting with Popovich after the Western Conference finals: "The emotions were something I haven't felt in a while."
• Castle on sharpening his defense: "Sometimes it gets in the way of me missing a rotation or me not being in the right spot for my teammate because I'm so locked in on those matchups. That's one thing I need to get better on is the team defense and not just making it about me and another person."

📸 Parting shots to go

Here's how to tune into the matchup.

On TV: ABC is the exclusive broadcaster for the Spurs-Knicks series. All games begin at 7:30pm local time.

• Turn on KVUE, Austin's ABC station.

State of play: Bars around Austin will continue to show the games. We recommend Black Sheep Lodge on South Lamar Boulevard and Haymaker on Manor Road.

• Wear your Spurs gear at Austin's Pluckers Wing Bar locations to get five free wings when you buy an adult dish.

Plus: The Spurs will host official watch parties in Austin.

• Games 1 and 2 (June 5) and Games 5 and 7 (if necessary; June 14 and June 19) are at Chalmers.
• Games 3 and 4 (June 8 and 10) and Game 6 (if necessary; June 16) are at the Armadillo Den.

Meanwhile: The group Knicks Fans in Austin is gathering to watch games at the Dainty Dillo.

💭 Asher's thought bubble: Call me an asocial sourpuss, but I much prefer to watch the games that matter to me — like these NBA Finals — with just my family or like-minded friends.

• Victory requires concentration.

🎸 Emo's is closing as a new venue run by a Los Angeles-based company prepares to move into the space. (CultureMap Austin)

📱 A federal appeals court is allowing Texas' app age-verification law to take effect for now, potentially changing how Texans access certain online content. (KXAN)

🗳️ Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson, charged with overseeing elections, is stepping down. She did not say why. (Votebeat)

🍣 Japanese eatery HokkaiSan has opened an all-you-can-eat sushi spot on Research Boulevard in North Austin. (Community Impact)

Even if you put aside high gas prices for the moment, car ownership in Texas has gotten a lot more expensive in recent years.

Why it matters: For the majority of Austinites, a car is necessary for getting to work and picking up groceries.

Driving the news: The average monthly car payment for a new vehicle in Texas is now $843, according to new data from car research site Edmunds.

• For a used car, the average monthly payment in the state is $619.

Zoom in: The two biggest reasons for spiraling monthly payments are high sticker prices — with many popular models now thousands of dollars more than they were a few years ago — and higher interest rates.

The big picture: Add in gas prices, insurance and repairs, and the cost of owning a vehicle is up 47% since 2020, according to Navy Federal Credit Union. That's faster than inflation and wages have risen.

June has kicked off, and it's time for the return of our 100-degree-day contest.

📬 It's simple: Let us know how many triple-digit days you think Austin will have this year.

• Just reply to this email.

The stakes: The person with the closest guess — to be determined whenever the coast seems clear (so, like, mid-October) — will receive some nifty Axios swag.

Vaguely helpful: Last year Austin saw 22 triple-digit days — but in 2023 there were 80 such days.