The New York Knicks moved within two wins of their first NBA championship since 1973 on Friday, edging the San Antonio Spurs 105-104 in Game 2 of the NBA Finals at the AT&T Center in San Antonio to take a 2-0 series lead.
Karl-Anthony Towns led the Knicks with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Mikal Bridges and Jalen Brunson each added 20 points, with Brunson again providing the crucial moment when it mattered most.
The Spurs trailed by 14 points midway through the fourth quarter before Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox sparked a 14-0 run to level at 97-97 with three minutes remaining. Fox then put San Antonio ahead for the first time in the second half with under a minute to go.
Brunson answered immediately with a driving basket to tie it at 104-104. On San Antonio’s next possession, Wembanyama threw the ball away trying to initiate the final play, Brunson drew the foul, and converted the go-ahead free throw with 9.5 seconds left. Wembanyama still had a chance, finding space at the elbow for an open 20-footer at the buzzer, but it came off the back rim.
“We played hard, we got ourselves a lead. It’s something we’ve done so well in this playoffs. We’ve gotten leads and we’ve held the leads,” Towns said. “Today, the Spurs fought. They got themselves back into the lead and put themselves in a position to win, but we found a way to get it done.”
Wembanyama finished with 29 points on 11-for-21 shooting, nine rebounds and four blocks, scoring 22 of his points in the second half. “Of course I liked the shot,” he said of the final attempt. “In moments like this, results matter more than process. We just needed to score. I just needed to score. That’s the whole point.”
In Game 1, Wembanyama shot 6-for-21 from the field and committed six turnovers, finishing with 26 points and 12 rebounds in a 105-95 defeat. Across two Finals games, he has produced the statistics of a dominant player while also committing the turnovers that have decided both contests. Towns’s physical presence as his primary defender has disrupted Wembanyama’s rhythm at key moments in both games, and San Antonio must find a way to free him from that coverage if the series is to change.
The win extended New York’s postseason winning streak to 13 games. No team in NBA history has won the Finals after losing the first two games at home. Game 3 takes place at Madison Square Garden on Monday, with secondary-market tickets approaching $9,000 for the worst seats in the arena.
