Knicks 105, Spurs 104 – Series: New York leads 2-0
With 12.7 seconds left and the score tied at 104, Victor Wembanyama grabbed a defensive rebound. The AT&T Center was electric. The game was there for the taking. Then came the outlet pass – straight to Jalen Brunson’s hands. Brunson took the contact, sank the go-ahead free throw, and the Spurs were down one with no timeouts and time dissolving.
Wembanyama got one last look: a 20-footer over Mitchell Robinson as the buzzer sounded. It hit the back of the rim. New York holds on, 105-104.
“It’s like the body reacts quicker than the mind,” Wembanyama said in the locker room. “We needed to win that game. This game was ours.”
A comeback that fell one play short
The Spurs were down 14 midway through the fourth quarter, the building already half-resigned to defeat. Then San Antonio ripped off a 14-0 run. Wembanyama was the engine – he scored 22 of his 29 points in the second half, attacking off the dribble, hitting mid-rangers, making the Knicks’ defense look beatable for the first time all night. The crowd came back to life. It was tied with three minutes left.
Brunson, who shot 7-for-25 from the field (2-for-8 from three), had been struggling for most of 48 minutes. None of it mattered once he made that steal.
Wembanyama takes the blame, all of it
Wembanyama (29 pts, 9 reb) didn’t dodge the question. “I messed up,” he said in a video posted after the locker room cleared, per Bleacher Report. “The urgency got the better of me.”
For stretches of the fourth quarter, he was the best player on the floor. The Spurs’ charge ran entirely through him. But San Antonio couldn’t finish, and Wembanyama will carry that turnover into Game 3 at a very different venue.
Towns quietly builds a case
Karl-Anthony Towns (21 pts, 13 reb, 4 ast, +11) did his damage without fanfare. He shot 8-for-12 from the field and 3-for-5 from three in 34 minutes, becoming the first Knick with a 20-point double-double in an NBA Finals road game since Dave DeBusschere in 1973, per NBA.com. Mikal Bridges added 20 points on 8-of-9 shooting. New York shot 52% from the field; San Antonio shot 44%.
What comes next
Game 3 is Monday, June 8, at Madison Square Garden, 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC. The Knicks are two wins from their first championship since 1973. Teams trailing 0-2 in the NBA Finals have come back to win just twice in league history.
The Spurs need something to change fundamentally at MSG – not tactically. They need Wembanyama to be great AND the team around him to close. Friday night, they had one of those two things.
Bottom line
- Wembanyama (29 pts, 9 reb) was the best player in the building for long stretches. One turnover in the final nine seconds cost everything.
- KAT (21 pts, 13 reb, +11) has now outplayed Wembanyama across both Finals games. The MVP ladder is shifting.
- Game 3 at MSG is the Spurs’ last real moment to change the narrative before this series closes out in New York.
Sources: ESPN – Bleacher Report – NBA.com
