The San Antonio Spurs have done some amazing things this spring. Knocking off the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals is one example. Becoming the youngest NBA Finals team in 50 years is another.
But they’re going to have to do something even more amazing – borderline impossible, seemingly – to win the NBA Finals: come back from down 0-2 having lost their first two games at home. All they have to do now is win at least one of the next two games at Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks.
Only five teams have ever come back from 0-2 in the Finals, the most recent being the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021.
But none have done what the Spurs are going to have to do: come back after having lost the first two games of a series at home.
The Spurs will head into Game 3 in New York on Monday at least being buoyed by the knowledge that they could just as easily be the team leading 2-0. Remember, they were up by one with less than two minutes left in Game 1 before the Knicks reeled off an 11-0 closing run.
But letting Game 2 slip away might have been even more painful. In a wild, up-and-down game with big plays and swings on Friday, it appeared the Spurs were in good shape having come back from down 14 with 6:04 to play take the lead on a three-point play by Victor Wembanyama with 57 seconds left.
And even after Jalen Brunson shook off a 6-of-23 shooting night to hit a spinning fadeaway jumper to tie the game, they seemed to be in good shape. They were able to coax one more miss from Brunson with Wembanyama snaring the rebound. But things changed in an instant.
A poor outlet pass by the Spurs star went off teammate Stephon Castle’s back with Wembanyama compounding his mistake by fouling Brunson, who had recovered the ball. And after Brunson made one free throw to give the Knicks a 105-104 lead with 9.5 seconds left, the Spurs fumbled their last chance with Wembanyama missing a 17-footer just before the horn.
It was a shocking end to a game that had featured the Spurs building a 12-point lead in the first half, only to have the Knicks come back. Then the Spurs rallied from down 14 in the final minutes, only to not finish.
The Spurs now will have to try to stop a Knicks juggernaut that has won 13 straight playoff games, tied for the second-longest streak in NBA history.
Here are some takeaways from Game 2
Victor Wembanyama, power forward:
Once upon a time, long, long ago, I had the opportunity to cover a highly skilled seven-foot centre named Andrea Bargnani, the first-overall pick of the 2006 NBA Draft by the Raptors. For a wide range of reasons, Bargnani – whose raw talent was never really in question – ended up being a very marginal NBA player.
Now, he did play 10 seasons, and averaged a respectable 14.3 points per game. But Bargnani is viewed a borderline bust because as a big man with the skills of a perimeter player, he was better in theory than in practice.
He wasn’t very good at being big (at seven feet and 250 pounds, he averaged 4.6 rebounds for his career) and he wasn’t very effective being small, either, as he shot better than league average from the three-point line in only two seasons.
And let’s forget his defensive presence, because he often did. He was, in the end, a seven-foot shooting guard, and by that standard a not-very-good one. It was neat that he could kind of do shooting-guard things at seven feet, but it was more of a gimmick than an effective basketball strategy
All of which brings us to Wembanyama. I am not comparing the French superstar with his Italian predecessor. One little distinction: even without trying, Wembanyama is one of the best defenders in the NBA. But he does try, so he’s the best.
However, some of the lessons I learned covering Bargnani came to mind watching a largely uninspired Wembanyama in Game 1, especially as he drifted around the perimeter and put up nine threes and took only nine shots in the paint.
Wembanyama is a capable three-point shooter – he shot 40 per cent from three in the Western Conference Finals – but his true advantage is in his ability to dunk without jumping or generally be a rim threat that either collapses the defence or generates an easy basket.
It’s great that he can do a credible James Harden impression – using a series of dribble moves to generate a step-back three – but he’s incredible when he uses his nearly 10-foot standing reach to put the ball in the basket with force. He was 13-of-21 inside 10 feet with only two three-point attempts in the Spurs’ double-overtime win in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, the catalyst for a 41-point, 24-rebound, three-block master class.
Wemby, power forward, continued
What did we get in Game 2?
To Wemby’s credit, he seemed to have read the memo. By the end of the first quarter, he’d taken only one three but had attacked the rim four times by my count and generated an open three-point look, a dunk, a lay-up and a trip to free-throw line as the Spurs jumped out to a 34-25 lead. But he didn’t build on it. He took only one shot and closed the quarter with two immature turnovers as he tried to make plays on the perimeter.
It was his jumper that got him rolling, finally, in the third quarter. But it’s worth noting that of the 12 points he scored, there was a dunk and a putback. His last three baskets during the Spurs’ fourth quarter surge were on two lay-ups and an alley-oop.
Wembanyama finished with 29 points, nine rebounds and four blocks, but perhaps most importantly provided a ready reminder that just because he can make plays like a shooting guard, using his length and size has to be the protein in his offensive diet.
The best big man in the series is…
Knicks centre Karl-Anthony Towns, at least through two games.
He followed up a strong outing in Game 1 with another big one in Game 2. Towns finished with 21 points, 13 rebounds and four assists, and has also proven a really worth match-up for Wembanyama.
The burly Towns is using his wider, stronger and thicker frame to outmuscle the slender Frenchman, like when he simply stole an offensive rebound from the Spurs star for Towns’ first basket of the third quarter.
It was a recipe the Knicks have relied on heavily: whomever has a chance to hit, hold or move Wembanyama is leaning into the job. It’s a big reason Wembanyama has had a hard time catching any lobs or scoring out of pick-and-roll actions: as soon as he rolls to the rim after setting a screen, a Knicks defender body checks him around the free-throw line. Sometimes they do it again.
Getting a less lenient whistle might be the deciding factor in Game 3. But as the series has been called so far, it is Towns’ ability to hang with Wembanyama on the perimeter and bang with him in the paint that has made it such a good match-up for New York.
Towns’ talent has never been in doubt since he was the No. 1 pick in the 2015 draft. He was rookie of the year and has averaged 23 points, 13 rebounds and 40 per cent from three in the 10 years since.
But few would have cast him as the two-way lynchpin of an NBA championship team. He’s two wins from cementing that as part of his legacy.
When the Spurs traded for Fox midway through the 2024-25 season and gave the lighting quick point guard a four-year $229-million contract extension that doesn’t start until next season, they hoped the 28-year-old would be the perfect veteran floor leader to help make the Spurs and Wembanyama competitive as their rebuild took shape.
Great idea, but it’s hasn’t worked all that well, unless you count the season-ending finger injury he had shortly after the trade that helped the Spurs stay in the draft lottery, where they were able jump up six spots in the draft and take Dylan Harper second overall. It’s pretty evident that the precocious rookie is the Spurs’ point guard of the future, as in next year, but the team needs the best of what Fox has now if they’re going to beat the Knicks.
He’s clearly been bothered by an ankle sprain he suffered at the end of the second round, which kept him out for the first two games of the Western Conference Finals. Since he’s returned, Fox has shot just 34.2 per cent from the floor and averaged just 10.5 points per game, compared to 18.8 in the post-season before his injury.
Fox generated three wide-open threes with his ball movement in the first half of Game 1 and did it again on his first touch in Game 2. But the Spurs need his scoring too and the dam finally broke early in Game 2, as he accumulated 12 of his 20 points in the in the first half.
Still, Fox seemed to be grimacing a bit as the second half wore on. If his ankle is bothering him again, it will make the Spurs’ nearly impossible task of coming back in the series even harder.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login