SAN ANTONIO — The final 30 seconds of Game 2 were pretty brutal for Victor Wembanyama, the San Antonio Spurs’ rising superstar, with two misses and a disastrous turnover.
The turnover may have been the most costly. With the score tied 104-104 and about 12 seconds left Friday, New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson missed a jumper, and Wembanyama grabbed the rebound. He started to push the ball ahead and then threw a pass to teammate Stephon Castle, whose back was turned so he, too, could sprint down the court.
Wembanyama’s pass hit Castle in the back, and Brunson corralled it and drew a foul from Wembanyama.
“I was looking at him when he first got the rebound,” Castle said. “I just started to take off to try to give him some space to dribble up the court. I didn’t see him throw it to me.
“At that point, I’m just running up the court. I see Vic has the ball. Tie game. I’m just trying to give him space.”
Brunson made one of two foul shots for the Knicks’ 105-104 win and a 2-0 series lead in the 2026 NBA Finals.
“That’s the most frustrating thing, to throw it away after putting in all this work,” Wembanyama said. “I threw that one away. I messed up.”
The Knicks’ OG Anunoby dunked on Wembanyama with about six minutes left for a 97-83 lead. Rather than sink the Spurs, the dunk served as a wake-up call. San Antonio scored the next 14 points to tie the score.
Wemby, after scoring just 7 points on four shots in the first half, scored 10 in the final quarter and finished with 29 points (on 11-of-21 shooting), nine rebounds and four blocks. He was the screener for De’Aaron Fox on the final possession, and Fox threw the ball back to him off the roll for a 20-footer that clanged off the back of the rim.
“Of course I liked the shot,” said Wembanyama, whose tough 30 seconds began with a missed 17-footer and the score tied 104-104. “I feel like in this moment you need to shoot to score. In moments like this, it’s like results matter more than process, if you know what I mean. We just need to score. I just need to score. That’s the whole point.”
Wemby said he was “blurry” over the final three possessions. He likely meant that it was all still a haze, just moments after the game had ended, and said, “I need to have more poise, more control over the game.” He also said the Spurs have been digging themselves into holes that are leaving them in tough spots.
“That’s been the theme so far,” Wembanyama said.
This is Wembanyama’s first playoff run. That it will end, up or down, in the finals is a remarkable feat for a 22-year-old who is clearly his team’s best player. He said, “I think I could have been better in recovering from the high of the conference finals,” referencing the euphoria of winning Games 6 and 7 against the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder to reach this point.
But now he and the Spurs are in a hole that few have been able to dig out of. Teams that trail 2-0 in the finals have gone on to win just five of 37 series, and none of those wins came when the first two losses occurred at home.
Thinking about his tough finish to Friday’s game, Wembanyama said: “Am I going to regret it? Yes, of course. Am I going to use that to fuel me and to fuel us next game? Absolutely.”
