Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Go crazy, New York. Or, perhaps more accurately, crazier.
The red-hot Knicks are going home, two wins away from an NBA championship that the city has been waiting to see for generations.
Jalen Brunson hit a go-ahead free throw with 9.5 seconds left after a turnover by Victor Wembanyama moments earlier. Wembanyama then missed a jumper at the end of New York’s 105-104 win over San Antonio on Friday (Saturday AEST) as the Knicks took a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals.
For the Knicks, Karl-Anthony Towns had 21 points and 13 rebounds, while Brunson and Mikal Bridges each scored 20 points.
New York have now won 13 straight, the second-longest streak by any team in NBA playoff history.
“New York City showed up,” Towns said.
“The fans showed up. The energy showed up. And we found a way to get it done.”
New York are just the third team to win the first two games of a finals series on the road, joining Michael Jordan and the 1993 Chicago Bulls, and Hakeem Olajuwon and the 1995 Houston Rockets.
Both of those teams won championships and the Knicks, seeking their first since 1973, are in position to join them.
Wembanyama, after a very quiet first half, scored 29 points, while De’Aaron Fox had 20 for San Antonio.
“We can’t change the past,” Wembanyama said.
“We’re already thinking about Game 3.”
The series now shifts to New York. Game 3 is at Madison Square Garden on Monday night (Tuesday AEST), and US President Donald Trump – a native New Yorker – plans on attending.
On Friday the Spurs were down by 12 points midway through the fourth quarter and came all the way back.
Wembanyama’s three-point play with 57 seconds left gave the home side their first lead in nearly two full quarters, putting San Antonio up 104-102.
Brunson scored on the next possession, just his seventh basket in 24 shots on the night, and the game was tied.
Wembanyama missed a long jumper, OG Anunoby got the rebound for New York with 30 seconds left, the Knicks called time and the stage was set.
The Spurs got a stop, but French superstar Wembanyama threw the ball away. Brunson got fouled, the Knicks had the lead back and before long San Antonio fans were filing out of the arena – possibly for the final time this season.
The Spurs called time with 7.5 seconds remaining. Fox took the inbound pass, then set up Wembanyama for a jumper that would have won it. The shot bounced off the rim and it was over.
“We had to get a stop. We hadn’t gotten a stop all quarter,” Towns said.
They got their stop.
Next stop: New York, where the hottest team in basketball knows an NBA title is just two wins away.
