San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama struggled to recall the precise details of the late-game errors that cost his team a heartbreaking 105-104 loss to the New York Knicks in Game 2 of the NBA finals on Friday night. The defeat leaves the Spurs in a daunting 2-0 series deficit as the action shifts to New York.
The Spurs mounted a furious comeback in the fourth quarter, erasing a 14-point deficit with a 14-0 scoring run to briefly take a one-point lead. However, the rally unraveled in the final moments.
Wembanyama was instrumental in the comeback, but two critical misses—including a potential game-winning shot—and a baffling turnover when he passed the ball into teammate Stephon Castle's back doomed San Antonio's hopes.
“I’m still very blurry,” Wembanyama said of the plays. “That’s the whole problem. I need to have more poise, more control over the game.”
With the score tied at 104-104 and 9.5 seconds remaining, Wembanyama threw a pass that Castle never anticipated. “I was looking at him when he first got the rebound,” Wembanyama explained. “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.”
“That’s the most frustrating thing, to throw it away after putting in all this work,” he added. “Urgency at this point. It’s like body reacts quicker than mind.”
Despite the turnover, San Antonio still had a chance to win. On the final inbound play, Wembanyama got the shot he wanted, but his jump shot clanked off the rim. “Of course I liked the shot,” he said. “I feel like in this moment you need to shoot to score.”
Castle expressed full confidence in Wembanyama taking that shot. “He’s made that shot a thousand times. He has a game-winner with that shot this year,” Castle said.
The Spurs now face an unprecedented challenge: no NBA team has ever lost the first two games of the finals at home and gone on to win the championship. “We’re digging ourselves a hole. That’s been the theme so far,” Wembanyama acknowledged.
“We needed to win that game,” he said. “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.”
“Yeah, I threw that one away. I messed up,” he added.
