SAN ANTONIO (AP) \u2014 Go crazy, New York. Or, perhaps more accurately, crazier.<\/p>\n
The red-hot Knicks are going home, two wins away from an NBA championship that the capital of the world has been waiting to see for generations.<\/p>\n
Jalen Brunson hit a go-ahead free throw with 9.5 seconds left after a turnover by Victor Wembanyama moments earlier, then Wembanyama missed a jumper at the end of New York\u2019s 105-104 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night for a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat a ballgame,\u201d Knicks coach Mike Brown marveled.<\/p>\n
Karl-Anthony Towns had 21 points and 13 rebounds, while Brunson and Mikal Bridges each scored 20 for the Knicks. They have won 13 straight, the second-longest streak by any team in NBA playoff history.<\/p>\n
\u201cNew York City showed up,\u201d Towns said. \u201cThe fans showed up. The energy showed up. And we found a way to get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Knicks are now just the third team to win the first two games of a finals on the road, joining Michael Jordan and the 1993 Chicago Bulls, and Hakeem Olajuwon and the 1995 Houston Rockets.<\/p>\n
Both of those teams won championships, the Bulls needing six games to oust the Phoenix Suns, the Rockets going home after winning those first two games in Orlando and sweeping the Magic. The Knicks, seeking their first championship since 1973, are in position to join them.<\/p>\n
Wembanyama, after a very quiet first half, scored 29. De\u2019Aaron Fox had 20 for San Antonio.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can’t change the past,\u201d Wembanyama said, \u201cWe’re already thinking about Game 3.\u201d<\/p>\n
The series now shifts to New York. Game 3 is at Madison Square Garden on Monday night.<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump \u2014 a native New Yorker \u2014 plans on attending Monday. And ticket prices on the secondary market, for the worst seats at MSG, were approaching $9,000 apiece on Friday night, with Knicks fans evidently willing to pay tippy-top dollar just to be in the building as the team nears what would be its first championship in 53 years.<\/p>\n
The Spurs were down 14 midway through the fourth and came all the way back \u2014 scoring the next 14 points to tie the game. Wembanyama’s three-point play with 57 seconds left gave the Spurs their first lead in nearly two full quarters, putting San Antonio up 104-102.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe showed tremendous desperation, urgency and competitive response,\u201d Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. \u201cHopefully we can try to bottle that up … and try to play to that same level.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the Knicks got the last three, Brunson \u2014 the hero of Game 1 for the Knicks \u2014 getting them all.<\/p>\n
Brunson scored on the next possession, just his seventh basket in 24 shots on the night, and the game was tied. Wembanyama missed a long jumper, OG Anunoby got the rebound for New York with 30 seconds left, the Knicks called time and the stage was set.<\/p>\n
The Spurs got a stop, but Wembanyama threw the ball away. Brunson got fouled, the Knicks had the lead back and before long Spurs fans were filing out of the arena \u2014 possibly for the final time this season.<\/p>\n
The Spurs called time with 7.5 seconds remaining. Fox took the inbound pass, then set up Wembanyama for a jumper that would have won it. The shot bounced off the rim, and it was over.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had to get a stop. We hadn\u2019t gotten a stop all quarter,\u201d Towns said.<\/p>\n
They got their stop. Next stop: New York, where the hottest team in basketball knows an NBA title is just two wins away.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NBA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SAN ANTONIO (AP) \u2014 Go crazy, New York. Or, perhaps more accurately, crazier. The red-hot Knicks are going home, two wins away from an NBA championship that the capital of the world has been waiting to see for generations. Jalen Brunson hit a go-ahead free throw with 9.5 seconds left after a turnover by Victor … Continue reading Wemby misses at the end, Knicks beat Spurs 105-104 for 2-0 lead in NBA Finals<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1452],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1512932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2026-06-08 03:18:46","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[0],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1512932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1512932"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1512932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1512933,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1512932\/revisions\/1512933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1512932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1512932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1512932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}