SAN ANTONIO — Victor Wembanyama’s first chance for true NBA Finals glory clanged off the back of the rim, and the New York Knicks are now just two wins away from their first championship since 1973.
Wembanyama, who scored 29 points for the San Antonio Spurs, missed a jumper before time expired as San Antonio lost Game 2, 105-104, on Friday night. Karl-Anthony Towns led New York with 21 points and 13 rebounds.
The Knicks, who will host Games 3 and 4 at Madison Square Garden, have now won 13 consecutive playoff games — the second-longest winning streak in NBA playoff history. Would you believe the two teams with the longest playoff winning streaks were both coached by Mike Brown?
The only team to win more — the 2017 Golden State Warriors, who won 15 straight — took the title that year. Brown was an assistant coach, but had to step in for Steve Kerr for 11 games.
If Brown’s Knicks sweep the Spurs, they would, of course, tie that Warriors team and, more importantly, snap the franchise’s lengthy championship drought.
“I’m not that smart. You got to have good players that carry you,” Brown said.
Teams that go up 2-0 in the finals are 32-5 all-time in those series. Brown is looking smarter by the day.
New York led by 14 with six minutes left and nearly blew it (had Wembanyama’s shot fallen, we’d be talking differently about coach Brown today). 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.
Wembanyama, who struggled mightily in the first half but recovered for a much better final two quarters, will want the last 10 seconds back. He turned it over with 9.5 seconds left and then missed a 20-footer that would’ve won it.
Wembanyama’s last shot attempt was set up by Jalen Brunson (20 points), who made the first of two free throws but missed the second. Brunson went 7-for-25 from the field, and the Knicks won anyway. Towns was more dominant in the first half and was hampered by foul trouble in the second, but Mikal Bridges was solid after halftime and finished with 20 points. Anunoby added 17 points.
Game 3 is at 8:30 p.m. Monday at Madison Square Garden. It will be the first finals game there since 1999 and, as long as President Donald J. Trump’s schedule holds, the first finals game with a sitting U.S. president in attendance.
The Spurs were 5-1 after a loss heading into Friday’s affair, and this one stung. They were up by as many as 12 in the second quarter, but went to the locker room trailing 56-52. Wembanyama took just four shots for seven points (with three made free throws) in the first half, while Towns (17 points, seven boards) had nearly posted a double-double by halftime.
Wembanyama finished 11-of-21 shooting with nine rebounds and four blocks. De’Aaron Fox added 20 points for the Spurs and rookie Dylan Harper scored 15 points off the bench.
Shamet signing pays for Knicks
Landry Shamet might be the best free-agent signing in the NBA this season.
No, seriously. Hear me out.
Shamet started training camp on a non-guaranteed deal and was fighting for a roster spot with Malcolm Brogdon and Matt Ryan. He suffered a second shoulder injury in as many seasons this year and missed a lot of time. The Knicks could have easily cut him, just as they could have last season. He has scored double-digit points for the sixth time in eight games, dating to Game 3 against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Shamet’s 3-point shooting has been some of the best these NBA playoffs have seen — I mean, the guy hit 11 of 12 3s in the Eastern Conference finals. His hot shooting, while not as sizzling, has continued into the NBA Finals. Offensively, Shamet has just become another tool on a team that already has a ton of them.
Shamet is also one of New York’s best on-ball defenders. He uses his chest as well as anyone on the team. His 3-and-D skill set is something Brown relies on often, and it’s helped put the Knicks on the doorstep of their first NBA championship in 53 years. It’s safe to say that the Knicks won’t be getting Shamet back as cheaply next season. — James L. Edwards
New York powers through
The Knicks ramped up the degree of difficulty on themselves in Game 2, in several dimensions. Falling behind by double digits early wasn’t enough — that’s child’s play for them by now. Spotting the Spurs an early dozen-point advantage in Game 2 was barely a nuisance.
Instead, the Knicks challenged themselves by having several key players from their unconscious playoff run suddenly turn into pumpkins. And it didn’t matter.
The Knicks won despite Brunson shooting 7-of-25 with four turnovers, with three of his first five shot attempts being blocked and the Spurs’ guards dialing up the pressure and springing traps all game.
They won even with Josh Hart being uncommonly quiet, not only going scoreless but also finishing with five fouls in just 18 minutes and spending most of the second half watching super-sub Shamet fill his role.
They won even with Towns — basically the MVP of the playoffs at this point — succumbing to his penchant for unnecessary fouls and picking up a fourth in the middle of the third quarter.
They won with a no-Brunson, no-Towns lineup — the same mixture that helped put New York on the ropes in the first round against Atlanta — playing a massive three-minute stretch at the end of the third quarter that saw New York extend the lead.
And they won despite surrendering a 14-0 fourth-quarter run — the type of avalanche the Knicks have typically sprung on other teams this spring — that allowed San Antonio to tie the game and set up the dramatic final three minutes.
It didn’t matter; none of it mattered. Because this Knicks team, in this moment, has simply gone to a place where no other team can match them.
Start spreading the news — next week we’re gonna party like it’s 1973. This team, despite one of the most modest regular-season resumes of any recent NBA champion, is simply untouchable right now. — John Hollinger
Faith in Bridges pays off
Mike Brown took a risk, one that nearly doomed them earlier in the playoffs. For a significant stretch from the end of the third quarter into the fourth, Brown went with a lineup that didn’t include Brunson or Towns.
Towns was in foul trouble. Brunson was resting. A lineup with Jose Alvarado at point guard in Game 2 of the NBA Finals should have lacked shot creation — though whatever should happen no longer actually happens to these Knicks, victors of 13 consecutive playoff games.
If one said that a unit with Alvarado, Bridges and three other bench players could not score, one would not be accounting for a new inevitability: Bridges no longer misses shots. He nailed midrangers. He facilitated jumpers off the dribble. He has been shooting just under 60 percent on non-paint 2s during the playoffs.
His defense on Fox, and in previous series on James Harden and Tyrese Maxey, has been stellar. The Brunson-less, Towns-less lineup with Bridges actually outscored the Spurs, who had Wembanyama on the court during that time. It won the Knicks the game, and now they sit only two wins away from their first title in 53 years. — Fred Katz
Mistakes cost Spurs in the end
As Wembanyama corralled the ball following his biggest stop of the game on Brunson, he did something unthinkable. He kicked it ahead to Stephon Castle, but Castle was looking ahead, completely oblivious to the pass. Brunson picked up the ball and Wembanyama ended up on top of him, sending the Knicks star to the line to take a one-point lead. Wembanyama missed the shot to win it at the end, and now the Spurs have fallen into a hole they never imagined.
After everything that went wrong, Fox found the spark. Ankle sprained and everything, he hasn’t been able to hit a shot. But when Castle went down with his own ankle injury, Fox didn’t have a choice. He had to run the offense, be the vet this team has relied on to get it organized all season. And even as he hobbled down the court, he kept attacking, finally freeing up Wembanyama to get to the rim and bring the Spurs back.
But there were so many times earlier in the game when another rebound bounced out of reach, another 3 from a Knicks shooter wide open. This was the story of the game, of every chance the Spurs had to close the gap. But the Knicks’ length and nose for the ball gave them crucial extra opportunities when the Spurs were building momentum. New York was eager to take the deep shots while the Spurs were reluctant to do so.
When Anunoby drove around Wembanyama halfway through the fourth quarter and then waited for Wembanyama to get behind him so he could explode up for a dunk, it was clear the Knicks are a better-executing team. They know how to get past Wembanyama by driving the baseline, knowing they can use his momentum against him when he is trying to play free safety. The Spurs’ comeback was valiant, but they were buried by their mistakes in the end. — Jared Weiss
Spurs battle history
The Spurs are in big-time trouble here. That much is obvious.
But if you’d like to have a more evidence-based sense of why that’s the case, then let’s dive into some of the historical data that comes courtesy of the fine folks at Basketball-Reference.com. Since 1984, teams that have lost the first two games of a seven-game playoff series on their home floor have gone 4-27. And none have ever come back to win (during that span) in the NBA Finals.
This makes all sorts of sense, of course. The emotional blow of going down 2-0 in your house, only to then have to gear up for an unlikely comeback in enemy territory, is a whole lot to handle. If you’re curious, like I was, here are the teams that managed to pull it off.
2021: The LA Clippers over Dallas Mavericks (first round)
2017: Boston Celtics over Chicago Bulls (first round)
2005: Dallas Mavericks over Houston Rockets (first round)
1994: Houston Rockets over Phoenix Suns (second round) — Sam Amick
