NEW YORK — For New York Knicks supporters who weren’t alive during their last championship run in 1973, seeing their team on the brink of an NBA title feels like uncharted territory.
However, what the San Antonio Spurs are attempting to accomplish — capturing a championship after dropping their first two home games — has truly never been done before.
New York will attempt to move one step closer to a long-awaited title while San Antonio looks to get back into contention when the Knicks host the Spurs for Game 3 on Monday evening.
New York secured a 2-0 series advantage in the best-of-seven matchup on Friday evening. The visiting Knicks weathered a 14-point fourth-quarter comeback by the home team before Victor Wembanyama’s shot attempt fell short at the final buzzer, allowing New York to escape with a 105-104 victory.
The victory extended New York’s winning streak to 13 games, with the team showcasing their trademark defensive intensity along with the mental toughness they last displayed on May 19, when they erased a 22-point fourth-quarter deficit to shock the Cleveland Cavaliers 115-104 in the opening game of the Eastern Conference finals.
“It’s an amazing feeling as a coach to know how mentally tough your team is, no matter what the situation is in front of them,” Knicks head coach Mike Brown said. “To see them continue to fight and fight and fight and fight, no matter what the score is, no matter how much time is on the clock, it’s just a fantastic feeling.”
Victories in Games 3 and 4 would not only tie the longest postseason winning streak in NBA history — the Golden State Warriors began the 2017 playoffs with 15 consecutive victories — but would also enable the Knicks to secure their highly anticipated NBA championship on home court, something that has energized the city for weeks.
“The NBA is tough,” Brown said. “You don’t get to experience what I’m experiencing with this group a ton. And it is a freaking joy to be around.”
Monday’s contest will mark the first NBA Finals game played in New York since June 25, 1999, when the Spurs secured the championship with a 78-77 victory in Game 5.
“Fans have earned the right and deserve the right to see Finals basketball be played here at Madison Square Garden,” said Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns, who grew up in New Jersey. “For this to be the first game in a long time that they have seen Finals basketball, it’s up to us to bring it, give them something to cheer for, give them something to get loud for and also give them something to believe in.”
The Spurs must engineer a historic turnaround of their own to claim their first championship since 2014.
San Antonio, which also surrendered a double-digit advantage in Wednesday’s 105-95 Game 1 defeat, becomes only the third franchise to lose their opening two NBA Finals games on home court. The 1993 Phoenix Suns lost to the Chicago Bulls in six games while the 1995 Orlando Magic were eliminated by the Houston Rockets in four.
“We need to capitalize — actually use all the efforts we (used),” Wembanyama said. “It felt like we did a lot, we did a lot of things wrong. But we also were relentless and kept pushing, but kind of wasted that effort.”
New York has created challenges for Wembanyama — and consequently the Spurs, whose 199 total points through two games represent their lowest scoring output in any two-game stretch during these playoffs.
Wembanyama is posting 27.5 points per game through the Finals’ first two contests, but he’s converting just 40.5% of his 21 field goal attempts per game. The 7-foot-4 star averaged 23.2 points while shooting 51% and taking only 15.2 shots per game during his initial 17 playoff appearances.
The increased shot volume in the Finals has occurred inconsistently for Wembanyama, who took eight of his 21 attempts during Game 1’s first half but managed only four shots in Friday’s opening half.
“I have to make sure there’s environments that the ball finds him,” Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson said. “There are times I think when he was open on rolls or around the paint and his teammates (have) got to give him the ball.
“But yeah, four shots in a half on this stage is not acceptable.”
