The New York Knicks are two wins from the first NBA championship in franchise history since 1973. They survived 105-104 in San Antonio on Friday night, extending their postseason winning streak to 13 games in a game that had everything: a double-digit first-quarter Spurs lead, a Knicks comeback that gave them a 14-point cushion in the fourth, a furious 14-0 San Antonio run that tied it with under three minutes left, and a final sequence that will be replayed for years. With the score tied and 12 seconds remaining, Wembanyama grabbed a Brunson miss, turned upcourt, and threw a pass into Stephon Castle's back. Castle was looking the other way. The ball caromed loose. Brunson corralled it. Wembanyama fouled him immediately. Brunson hit one of two free throws. Wembanyama then caught the inbound, squared up from 20 feet over Mitchell Robinson with 7.5 seconds left, and missed. The Knicks got the stop. The Knicks are 2-0. Karl-Anthony Towns said afterward: "A great player got a great shot. It just didn't go in. I take it as a sign my Mom is here with me."

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New York Knicks 105, San Antonio Spurs 104

San Antonio came out ready. The Spurs pushed the pace, ran Castle and Harper in transition, and leaned on Wembanyama's improving comfort against Towns' interior defense to build a 34-25 first-quarter lead, their best opening period of the series. They still led by as many as 12 early in the second quarter before the Knicks did what the Knicks do. New York outscored the Spurs 22-10 to close the first half, flipped the lead, and went into halftime up 56-52. It was the third time in two Finals games that the Knicks had absorbed a double-digit deficit and responded decisively. At some point the Spurs will need to find a way to make that trend stop. They have not found it yet.

The third quarter was New York's most commanding stretch of the series. They opened the second half on an 8-2 burst, pushed their lead into double digits, and held San Antonio at arm's length while Towns dissected their defense and Brunson ran the offense with the authority of someone who has been here before. The Knicks led 84-75 entering the fourth quarter and extended that to 97-83 midway through the period when it appeared the game was over. Then the Spurs caught fire in the way only young, desperate teams with great players can.

Wembanyama called timeout after an Anunoby dunk with six minutes left and the deficit at 14. Whatever he said in that huddle, it produced a 14-0 run over the next three minutes that tied the game at 97-97 and brought the building back to life. He scored 10 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter, drilling a three over Anunoby, converting a Harper-assisted and-one layup after a steal from Bridges, and imposing his will on the game in the way he had been unable to do in the earlier quarters when Towns and the Knicks' defensive rotations had kept him off-rhythm. The Spurs, who had looked ready to be swept, had tied the game on the road in an NBA Finals.

The final three minutes were exactly what the NBA Finals should be. Anunoby was fouled on a three-point attempt and made all three free throws to restore the lead. Back-and-forth possessions followed. Both teams made plays. Both teams made mistakes. Then came the final sequence, and Wembanyama's pass into Castle's back, and Brunson's free throw, and a 20-foot jumper that found the front of the rim and bounced away.

Towns led New York with 21 points, 13 rebounds, and 4 assists on 8-of-12 shooting, and has emerged through two games as the early favorite for Finals MVP. His physical defense on Wembanyama has kept the Spurs star off-balance in ways that no opponent managed all postseason. His three-point shooting has pulled Wembanyama out of the paint in a way that distorts San Antonio's entire defensive construction. Brunson's 20 points came on 7-of-25 shooting, one of his least efficient nights of the postseason, but his 5 steals, 6 assists, and the composure to hit the free throw that decided the game made him the first Knick ever to post 20 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 steals in an NBA Finals road game. He joins Jimmy Butler, Allen Iverson, Michael Jordan, and Scottie Pippen as the only players in NBA history to reach that threshold in a Finals road game.

Wembanyama's 29 points came almost entirely on volume and second-half aggression. He generated the 14-0 run that should have won the game. He committed the turnover that cost them their chance to win it. That is what 22 years old looks like in an NBA Finals. The moment is not too big for him. The experience is not yet sufficient to prevent the one mistake that breaks you.

San Antonio are the first home team to drop the first two games of an NBA Finals series since the Orlando Magic in 1995. Houston swept those Finals in four. The Spurs' path forward runs through Madison Square Garden.

NYK leads series 2-0. Game 3 is Monday in New York.

NYK 105 · SAS 104

Two games. Two Spurs leads erased. Two Knicks wins by a combined three points and 10 points in the two most tense games of this postseason. The margin in Game 2 was one point. The margin in the series is enormous. New York has won 13 consecutive playoff games and their last seven have all been decided in the final four minutes. They have been down 12, down 14, down 22 in these playoffs. They have not lost since Atlanta.

The Spurs' problem going into Madison Square Garden is structural. Wembanyama's slow starts have cost San Antonio the first half in both games. He was worth seven points in the first quarter on Wednesday and registered next to nothing in the opening period Friday before erupting in the fourth. A team built around a 22-year-old franchise player cannot afford to spot the Knicks 14 points in the opening period twice and expect to be competitive across 48 minutes. When Wembanyama operates at his full capacity from the opening tip, this series looks different. When he doesn't, the Knicks build leads that require heroic efforts to erase, and on Friday the effort fell one bounce short.

Madison Square Garden has not hosted an NBA Finals game in over 20 years. The building that produced Brunson's 11-point comeback run in the Eastern Conference Finals, Hart's career-high in the sweep clincher, and 13 straight postseason wins will welcome the Finals on Monday. The Spurs need to win there at least once. The Knicks need two more.

Star of the Night: Karl-Anthony Towns, New York Knicks - 21 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists on 8-of-12 from the floor in a game the Spurs desperately needed to win. Towns has been the most important player in this series not named Wembanyama. His physical defense has kept the best young player on the planet off his spots. His three-point shooting has pulled Wembanyama to the perimeter. His scoring has given the Knicks the interior foundation their system requires. When the season ended he said a great player got a great shot that didn't go in, and thanked his late mother. That is the full person.

Dud of the Night: Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs - He generated the 14-0 run that tied the game. He committed the turnover that decided it. He missed the shot that could have won it. His 29 points were real and his fourth-quarter eruption was legitimate. His pass into Castle's back with 12 seconds left and the season on the line is the play that defines this game. He is 22 years old in the NBA Finals. This will not be the last time he is in a moment this large. It is, for now, the defining image of Game 2.