The New York Knicks are two wins away from their first championship since 1973 after Jalen Brunson hit the go-ahead free throw with 9.5 seconds left, lifting them past the San Antonio Spurs 105-104 in a Game 2 nail-biter on Friday night.
Brunson's clutch foul shot came after Victor Wembanyama's turnover in the final seconds. The Spurs star, playing his first NBA finals, missed a clean look from the elbow at the buzzer, ending San Antonio's last realistic hope to claw back into the series.
The Knicks' 2-0 road sweep marks only the third time in NBA history a team has won the first two finals games away from home. Only the 1993 Chicago Bulls and 1995 Houston Rockets had done it before.
New York's victory extended a stunning postseason streak to 13 straight wins, matching one of the longest single-season playoff winning streaks in NBA history. The franchise, which last hoisted the Larry O'Brien Trophy exactly 52 years ago, now finds itself on the cusp of ending one of sports' longest championship droughts.
Karl-Anthony Towns paced the Knicks with 21 points and 13 rebounds, including several crucial buckets down the stretch. Brunson, nursing a sore knee and ankle from earlier in the series, finished with 20 points on a difficult 7-for-25 shooting night but proved again that clutch moments are his domain.
The Spurs mounted a furious fourth-quarter charge after trailing by 14 midway through the frame. San Antonio rattled off 14 straight points behind Wembanyama and De'Aaron Fox to tie it at 97-97 with three minutes left, then took their first lead of the half with less than a minute remaining.
Brunson answered immediately with a driving basket to tie the game at 104. After the Spurs turned it over, New York called timeout to set up the final sequence. Wembanyama's inattention during San Antonio's next possession proved fatal, as he threw the ball away. Brunson drew the foul and made the free throw.
Wembanyama showed vast improvement from his Game 1 stumble, posting 29 points on 11-for-21 shooting across 40 minutes. His 40-minute workload and aggressive approach suggested the French star was determined to erase a frustrating debut where he shot just 6-for-21 with six turnovers. But no team in NBA history has won a championship after losing both home games in the finals.
The series returns to Madison Square Garden for Game 3 on Monday night, where secondary-market tickets are fetching as much as $9,000 even for the worst seats available. The anticipation surrounding a potential Knicks parade has reached heights unseen in a generation, with even former President Donald Trump planning to attend.
Author James Rodriguez: "Brunson has become the player this franchise desperately needed, and his icy demeanor in the final moments separates contenders from champions."
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