The New York Knicks came to San Antonio and took both games. Now they are going home, two wins away from ending a 53-year championship drought.
Jalen Brunson hit a go-ahead free throw with 9.5 seconds remaining after Victor Wembanyama turned the ball over moments earlier, and Wembanyama’s jumper at the buzzer bounced off the rim as the Knicks survived a furious San Antonio Spurs comeback to win, 105-104, in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. The Knicks lead the series 2-0.
“What a ballgame,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said.
New York has now won 13 straight—the second-longest winning streak by any team in NBA playoff history. They are just the third team to win the first two games of a Finals on the road, joining Michael Jordan’s 1993 Chicago Bulls and Hakeem Olajuwon’s 1995 Houston Rockets. Both of those teams won the championship.
The Knicks know the history. Game 3 is Monday at Madison Square Garden.
Towns, Brunson, and Bridges Deliver
Karl-Anthony Towns led New York with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Brunson and Mikal Bridges each added 20, though Brunson’s night was defined less by volume—he finished 7-for-24 from the field—than by the moments that mattered most.
“New York City showed up,” Towns said. “The fans showed up. The energy showed up. And we found a way to get it done.”
Brunson was the hero of Game 1. He was the hero again in Game 2, delivering when the Knicks needed him most on a night his shot was not falling. His free throw with 9.5 seconds left proved to be the difference.
Spurs Storm Back—Then Fall Short
The Spurs were down 14 midway through the fourth quarter. Then they weren’t.
San Antonio went on a 14-0 run to tie the game, and Wembanyama capped it with a three-point play at the 57-second mark to give the Spurs their first lead in nearly two full quarters—104-102. The crowd at the Frost Bank Center was alive. The series, briefly, felt like it had shifted.
It hadn’t.
Brunson answered on the next possession for the tie. Wembanyama missed a long jumper, OG Anunoby grabbed the rebound with 30 seconds left, and New York called timeout. The Spurs got the stop they needed—but then Wembanyama turned it over. Brunson got to the line, made the free throw, and that was the lead the Knicks would not relinquish.
With 7.5 seconds left, San Antonio inbounded to De’Aaron Fox, who set Wembanyama up for the winner. The shot was on line. It did not go in.
“We can’t change the past,” Wembanyama said. “We’re already thinking about Game 3.”
Wembanyama finished with 29 points after a quiet first half—a performance that showed what he is capable of but also underscored the fine margins of the NBA Finals. Fox added 20 for San Antonio.
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson found something to hold onto despite the loss.
“We showed tremendous desperation, urgency and competitive response,” Johnson said. “Hopefully we can try to bottle that up and try to play to that same level.”
New York, Here Come the Knicks
The series shifts to Madison Square Garden for Game 3 on Monday night Tuesday. President Donald Trump, a native New Yorker, plans to attend. Secondary market ticket prices for the worst seats in the building were approaching $9,000 on Friday, with Knicks fans willing to pay whatever it takes to be inside when history is made.
It has not been made yet. But New York is close. Very close.
“We had to get a stop,” Towns said of the final possession. “We hadn’t gotten a stop all quarter.”
They got it. Now they go home with a chance to close in on something the city has been waiting for since 1973.
