NBA Finals Game 2 live updates: New York outlasts San Antonio for nail-biting win, takes 2-0 lead in NBA Finals

The New York Knicks survived a blown double-digit lead in the fourth quarter Friday to move within two victories of the franchise’s first NBA championship in 53 years.

Only when San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama missed an open 20-foot jump shot with 2 seconds remaining in regulation did New York secure a 105-104 victory to take a 2-0 lead in the 2026 NBA Finals.

“A great player got a great shot, it just didn’t go in,” New York’s Karl-Anthony Towns, who scored 21 points, said on the ABC broadcast.

The win was New York’s 13th consecutive of the postseason, including eight straight on the road, as the series moves to Madison Square Garden for Game 3 on Monday.

The Spurs led by as many as 12 points in the first half but a cold-shooting second quarter left them down by four at halftime. New York grew its lead to as many as 14 in the second half, until San Antonio wiped out that deficit thanks to its desperate fourth-quarter run in which it made six consecutive shots while scoring 14 unanswered points to take the lead.

That momentum ended with a stunning mistake by Wembanyama with the game tied at 104. After he rebounded a missed shot by New York’s Jalen Brunson with 13 seconds left, Wembanyama passed to teammate Stephon Castle, who was not looking back, and the ball bounced of Castle’s back before being stolen by Brunson. The error was compounded when Wembanyama fouled Brunson as he fell out of bounds after his steal.

Brunson made the ensuing free throw for a 105-104 lead, but missed the second, giving the Spurs another chance to win with 7.5 seconds to play.

That set up the final play, in which Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox used Wembanyama for a screen, then passed to his 7-foot-4 superstar teammate with the game on the line. Wembanyama finished 11 for 21 shooting for 29 points, but his last miss has put San Antonio in a dire position.

Wembanyama only took four shots in the first half, which Spurs coach Mitch Johnson called “not acceptable.”

Over the course of the previous six weeks Wembanyama had lifted the Spurs to the Finals in only his first playoffs by having an answer for every challenge thrown San Antonio’s way. But against Towns, and the depth of the Knicks, the young Spurs seemed out of solutions.

After making 11 3-pointers in Game 1, New York made 15 on Friday, many from role players who offset star Jalen Brunson’s difficult 7-for-25 performance shooting for 20 points.

His eyes closed, his arms swinging, Wembanyama made an impassioned speech during a timeout midway through the fourth quarter with the Spurs down 12 points. Shortly after the Spurs broke the huddle, they went on a three-minute run that saw them score 14 unanswered points to tie the game and set up a frantic final three minutes of regulation for control of the series.

A layup by Wembanyama, and a foul, with 39 seconds to play gave the Spurs their first lead of the second half at 104-102. That would be the last time they would lead, however.

“They made a run, we made a run, they made a run, we made a run,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “We could have folded a few times but our guys just kept fighting. They kept fighting, and the one thing I told them, you work on connectivity throughout the course of the year for moments like these. And no matter what run they went on, no matter the time of the game, our guys just kept uplifting one another.”