The New York Knicks have taken a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals following a thrilling 105-104 win over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 2 at Frost Bank Center on Friday. The Knicks have now become just the third team in NBA history to win Games 1 and 2 on the road in the Finals, but none of their players are thinking they have already got this series in the bag.
Jalen Brunson shared the Knicks’ mindset when asked postgame about them playing Game 2 with the sense of desperation and urgency we normally see from a team down 1-0, not up 1-0.
“I think our mindset was 0-0, not being up 1-0,” Brunson said, via SNY. “And even with the series is now next game, the mindset to be 0-0 again. It’s just how it has to be. You can’t be comfortable. You can’t be satisfied with anything. Just got to continue to push forward.”
Brunson’s co-star Karl-Anthony Towns nodded along as he said it’s still 0-0 for them. They are not going to allow complacency to seep in.
The Knicks appeared to have put the Spurs away in Game 2 when they led 97-83 with about six minutes left in the fourth. The hosts then responded with a stunning 14-0 run to tie the game and even went on to take the lead in the final minute.
It was just a reminder of how great these Spurs are, and Josh Hart made it clear in his postgame media session that he isn’t getting too comfortable when asked how good it feels to take a 2-0 lead to New York.
“It’s 0-0 at this point, as far as we’re concerned,” Hart said, via SNY. “Being up 2-0 means really nothing. This team’s gonna come out on what Monday with an unbelievable amount of energy and desperation, and we got to be better.”
Hart expects the Spurs to come out firing, and they likely will. Young teams tend to fold when facing 14-point deficits in the fourth quarter, but this group kept battling and nearly came away with the win. They won’t throw in the towel just because they’re down 2-0.
These Knicks also have someone on the roster who has blown a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals. Mikal Bridges was on that Phoenix Suns team that went up 2-0 against the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021, but then lost four in a row.
So, when Shaquille O’Neal asked Bridges how it feels to be two wins away from a championship on Inside the NBA, the message was clear.
“It’s 0-0, man,” Bridges said. “… Desperate. That’s it, man. Desperate. That’s the only thing that we got to worry about. Take this rest. We got two days. Take a break. Get ready. Do whatever you got to to get ready for this next game. But keep going out there and don’t stop. We got nothing but the offseason, man. Keep pushing. Leave everything on that court.”
There is no getting carried away here. This Game 2 win also meant, though, that the Knicks have now stunningly won 13 in a row in these playoffs. It is the second-longest postseason win streak in NBA history, and Landry Shamet was asked to explain how they have pulled this off.
“We got Game 3 in Madison Square Garden, and that’s what we’re worried about,” Shamet said, via SNY. “All those games are in the past. As far as we’re concerned, 0-0 gotta go get one win at home, and then on to the next one.”
The late great Kobe Bryant famously said the job isn’t finished after his Los Angeles Lakers went up 2-0 over the Orlando Magic in the 2009 NBA Finals. You’d imagine Bryant would have been pretty pleased with how these Knicks players are reacting to the position they find themselves in. He’d also have liked what he had seen from some of them.
Towns was the standout in Game 2, with 21 points (8-12 FG), 13 rebounds, four assists, one steal, and one block. O’Neal and Charles Barkley believe he is the Finals MVP as of now. Brunson would be the other main contender, and he had 20 points (7-25 FG), five rebounds, six assists, and five steals. He hasn’t been efficient in this series, but has hit the biggest shots.
The Knicks will now look to hit the final nail in the Spurs’ coffin in Game 3, which tips off at Madison Square Garden on Monday at 8:30 p.m. ET.
