Victor Wembanyama could barely remember the details of the late-game miscues that cost the San Antonio Spurs in their agonising 105-104 loss to the New York Knicks in Game 2 of the NBA Finals on June 5.
The Spurs used a 14-0 scoring run to erase a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit and briefly took a one-point lead before it all fell apart.
Wembanyama was key in the comeback, but two crucial misses – including a potential game winner – and an inexplicable turnover with a pass into teammate Stephon Castle’s back doomed the Spurs’ rally bid.
“I’m still very blurry,” he said of the plays. “That’s the whole problem. I need to have more poise, more control over the game.”
The score was tied at 104-104 with 9.5 seconds left when Wembanyama threw the pass that Castle never saw coming.
“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.”
San Antonio still had a chance to win it, but Wembanyama’s final jump shot bounced off the rim.
He said he got the shot he was looking for on the inbounds play but could not get it to drop.
“Of course I liked the shot,” he said. “I feel like in this moment you need to shoot to score.”
And Castle said there was no other player the Spurs would want to see taking that shot than Wemby.
“He’s made that shot a thousand times,” he said. “He has a game-winner with that shot this year.”
The Spurs now need an unprecedented comeback as the series shifts to New York for Games 3 and 4. No NBA team have lost the first two games of the Finals on their home floor and come back to lift the trophy.
“We needed to win that game,” added Wembanyama, who finished with a game-high 29 points.
“This game was ours. But at this point it’s done. 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.”
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson is counting on his team to step up their play as the series turns to Madison Square Garden.
“We don’t feel like we played well or up to our standard at least in the last two games,” he said. “New York has played very well and they’re a part of that. But we’re going to go into Game 3, if we play our brand of basketball up to our standard, we’ll be just fine.”
While the Spurs only had themselves to blame, Jalen Brunson again played a vital part for the Knicks.
He fueled New York’s first victory of the NBA Finals with his fourth-quarter offence and he set up their Game 2 win with his fifth steal.
And suddenly, the underdog Knicks are two victories away from their first NBA championship since 1973.
The winning play began with that Wembanyama mispass off the back of Castle. Brunson retrieved the ball, was fouled and split two free throws to give New York a one-point lead and the win.
He scored 20 points after pouring in 30 in Game 1, including 13 in the fourth quarter of that 105-95 victory. Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns led the team with 21 points and 13 rebounds in Game 2.
New York have claimed their 13th straight postseason victory, passing the 1999 Spurs for the second-longest such streak in NBA history.
“Obviously, they made their run towards the end,” New York coach Mike Brown said, referring to the Spurs’ comeback from 14 points down. “We could have folded a few times. But our guys just kept fighting.”
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