351 - The Knicks Take a 2-0 Finals Lead With a 105-104 Escape

The Knicks hung on for nail-biting 105-104 road win in Game 2 of the NBA Finals!

A 1-point NBA Finals win is stressful enough. Now add this twist: Jalen Brunson can’t buy a bucket, shoots 7-for-25, misses a wide-open late three, and the Knicks still walk out of San Antonio with a 105-104 win and a 2-0 series lead. That’s the kind of result that makes fans start whispering about something bigger, because it takes more than hot shooting to survive that atmosphere and that pressure.

I break down how New York pulls it off with a real team effort. Karl-Anthony Towns is the engine again and he’s building a serious Finals MVP case: 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting, 13 rebounds, 3-of-5 from deep, plus the defense and poise you need when Victor Wembanyama is on the other side. I also talk about why staying out of foul trouble is a hidden key for the Knicks’ rotation, and how Towns’ minutes can tilt the entire matchup.

Then it’s the supporting cast and the details: Mikal Bridges hitting huge shots (20 points on 8-of-13, 4-of-6 from three), Landry Shamet providing instant offense off the bench, OG Anunoby’s steady scoring and free throws, and the connected team defense that brings steals, blocks, and stops when the Spurs make their run. I also react to the bigger picture numbers that don’t sound real anymore: 13 straight playoff wins, eight straight road playoff wins, and a Knicks team that refuses to fold late.

Subscribe to Jersey Guy Sports, share this with a Knicks fan who’s still catching their breath, and leave a review if you like these rapid postgame reactions. What was the moment you thought Game 2 was slipping away?

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Transcript

Welcome And Game 2 Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Welcome to Jersey Guy Sports, your sports talk home for the Yanks, the Giants, the Knicks, the Rangers, and the Ruckers Skylights. I'm your host, Don. Thanks for listening. Today I am going to be discussing the New York Knicks hanging on for a thrilling 105-104 Game 2 NBA Finals victory over the San Antonio Spurs. Let's go ahead and get started. Go,

Brunson Struggles But Stays Poised

SPEAKER_00 1:08

New York, Go is right again in a nail-biting, frustrating, and ultimately extremely satisfying game two in the NBA Finals. The Knicks hung on, held off a furious San Antonio Spurs rally in the fourth quarter, and beat the Spurs 105-104 in a thrilling game two of the NBA Finals. And with the victory, the Knicks take a 2-0 series lead in the finals. And boy, what a game this was. It was a night where Brunson really had one of his worst games you'll ever see, particularly in the playoffs. He did not have it early. He didn't have it in the middle of the game. He didn't even really have it late. And he probably finished with around 20 points. I'll look it up in a little bit. But he did not shoot well. He did not play particularly well. I'd say the best thing that Brunson did today was he made a couple key steals, made some key free throws, though he missed one at the very end. That could have cost the Knicks the game. And, you know, he continued to try to handle the pressure amongst some fierce, fierce defense by San Antonio. They really had a good game plan against Brunson early on. And that Castle is the incredible defender. So Brun Brunson struggled the entire game. The rest of the Knicks, though, picked it up and played an excellent cohesive team game. Once again, the New York Knicks playing as a five-man team. You include the bench, you can say all eight players that really played minutes played very well, you know, in their in their roles. The worst players today were probably Hart and Brunson, out of all of them. But everyone contributed in their own way, and the Knicks win 105-104 in a thrilling, nail-biting game in San Antonio. Holy moly, if you're a Knicks fan, you know, we haven't lost in a long time, and this one felt like we were going to lose it at the end. We actually gave up the lead in the fourth quarter after, you know, having probably a 12 or 14-point lead in the fourth quarter. San Antonio charged all the way back, took a one-point lead. Then the Knicks ended up, you know, scoring at the end and holding on as the final shot was missed by Wembignana as the clock expired, and the Knicks win 105-104.

Towns Takes Over The Finals

SPEAKER_00 3:37

Now, during the game, again, Carl Anthony Towns continued to excel. And at this rate, Towns is going to be the MVP of the finals. He has played two outstanding, outstanding games in the NBA Finals and continues to play just spectacularly in the playoffs. And again, as someone who, if you listen to this podcast, was not a big Towns fan, particularly early in this season when he was not playing well, the second half of the regular season and the entire playoffs, Kat has just been unbelievable. And all aspects of the game I'm talking about. He stepped up his defense tremendously. He played another good defensive game both against Wemby and against other players. He continues to rebound at an astounding rate. He continues to both hit shots from three-point range like almost no other center in the league ever has, as well as play strong and physical inside, and continue to get rebounds and more than anything, continues to be an excellent leader on the court with assists, finding open people, making the good plays, boxing out, really being an excellent all-around player. And for someone who had his issues with Carl Anthony Towns early in the year, I don't think I could be any more turned around on one player than I have been on Cat from the beginning of this year to right now. He is absolutely on top of his game and playing about as well as he can. And he was a huge, huge reason why the Knicks won this game today. He continues his outstanding play. Outstanding, outstanding play. Now,

Ball Movement And Role Players Shine

SPEAKER_00 5:16

Shamit played pretty well, hit some big threes, and more so than in game one, Bridges actually made some excellent shots and was shooting very, very well most of the game and in big spots because, as I mentioned, San Nintendo continued to be really quick on defense. They played with the desperation that you would expect from a team that has lost at home in game one and needed to win at home in game two in order to kind of keep the series on an even kilter as they head back to New York for the next game. Now, with that said, they were flying around on defense, and the Knicks were just at some points whipping passes around, driving, dishing out, driving again, dishing out, and just hitting in some spots bridges, in some spots OG, big threes, clutch threes, a couple times Deuce made a big shot in those situations. The Knicks look as cohesive on offense now as they ever have. And as the playoffs continue to go on, they continue to look very effective on offense. And all this in a game where Brunson just didn't have it. Absolutely did not have it. And you and when you can say that the Knicks looked great on offense in a game where Brunson was about as bad as he can be offensively, that's really saying something. And it shows the continued playoff, I guess, atmosphere that has been around the Knicks ever since I say game three of the Atlanta series in the first round. And that is that everyone is stepping up. Even, you know, Mitchell Robinson played really well. Kat for the most part, except for one small stretch, I think in the third quarter, stayed out of foul trouble. And you know, I said before the final started that a key, a critical, critical key to the Knicks winning this is going to be for Kat to stay out of foul trouble because, you know, they're going to play Hakomich, you know, if if Cowns is on the bench for long stretches, and you know, we need someone that can both defend Wemby really well and challenge Wemby, you know, when Wemby's on defense, and that is Kat, right? We also have Mitchell Robinson, but Kat playing a lot of minutes and Kat playing well is a factor. Is maybe the tilting factor in this series. And if he's on the bench more often than not, the series is going to go the other way. And he has been very good so far in games one and two at staying out of foul trouble. And we'll see if that can continues as the series heads back to New York. Now, other factors in this game.

Defense And The Fourth-Quarter Scare

SPEAKER_00 7:50

Mikhail Bridges, tremendous shot making, as I detailed, really, really helped in critical spots. The Knicks being able to continue to play good defense, sound defense, OG Ananobi blocking shots, Mikhail Bridges with some steals, Brunson with some key steals and some key spots. We talk about the Knicks' cohesiveness on offense. We don't often talk about their team defense, and they have played very, very well. Mitchell Robinson is known for his defense and rebounding. You know, I talked about Towns getting a lot of rebounds. Hart always gets a lot of rebounds, but you know, OG is just a top, top, top defender and continues to block shots. He blocked Dylan Harper's shot in a big spot. A couple other really good sound defensive plays. Landy Shramitt played pretty good defense overall. The team's cohesive defense, in addition to their crisp offense in general, really, really contributed to a thrilling, thrilling victory. The Knicks in the middle of the fourth quarter looked like they were, I don't know, I wouldn't say run away, gonna run away with it, but the Knicks did look like they were gonna win this one, right? There wasn't as much of a doubt in my mind as some of the other games, but lo and behold, as it always is in the NBA, there's always a run, right? And sure enough, the Spurs put on a furious, I think it was 14-0 run, took the lead by one point, and then it was back and forth, nail biting time the entire rest of the game from about you know three minutes on until the final, final miss by Wemby as the clock expired. And it sure was heartbeating, nail biting time as that last shot went up. If you were a Knicks fan, you're like, ah, this is where the streak ends. But you know what? The Knicks streak did not end. And

The Streak And Road Dominance

SPEAKER_00 9:37

the New York Knicks have now won 13 straight playoff games. 13 straight playoff games. I mean, just the it's baffling how astounding that is. 13 consecutive playoff games. I I mean, it's just you can't even make that up. It's just incredibly, incredibly impressive. The Knicks have not lost a game since April. April 23rd is the last time the Knicks lost a game. I mean, that's pretty close to when there was snow on the ground, right? Here we are, it's like gonna be 90 to 95. Like they haven't lost a game since it was snowing. I mean, it is just crazy, crazy how long it's been and how good the Knicks have played for such an extended period of time. Not even to mention the fact that a lot of these ones were complete blowouts, not just winning these games by one point and thrillers like tonight, but 30, 40, 50 point playoff wins. It is their eighth consecutive road playoff game win. Sorry, eighth consecutive road playoff win tonight in San Antonio. So the Knicks aren't just a home team, you know, like most NBA teams in the playoffs. They are just outstanding on the road. They have been good at home, and they have a 2-0 series lead in the NBA Finals. At this point, it's about as good as it can be, is the best you could possibly have hoped for before this NBA Finals starts. When game seven was going on in the Western Conference Finals, and we didn't know if we were going to get Oklahoma City or if we're gonna get San Antonio, you know, as a Knicks fan, you're thinking, man, it's nerve-wracking either way. Do we want to face the defending champs and the flopper SGA, or do we want to face Wem Banyana, the you know, superstar freak athlete center, you know, in San Antonio? And either way, you thought, okay, we're gonna be opening up on the road in the finals, and you know, you just gotta hope we're gonna get one of two, you know, and then take it back to the garden and do our stuff. And here the Knicks are winning two straight on the road, big comeback in game one, led for most of game two here, put the game away, you know, and then hung on. Fingernail biting time at the end, and they take a 2-0 series lead.

Box Score Truths And Standouts

SPEAKER_00 11:57

As far as the actual stats from the game, OG Ananobi ended up with 17 points on five of ten shooting. He hit all free throws, and that was pretty key. Hart had another poor game, zero points. Josh Hart with zero points. He has not had a good finals at all. Now, he didn't he had only three points in game one, but ended up with you know 15 rebounds and some steals and blocks. This game he didn't do much of anything. He had five fouls, was complaining to the refs, zero points. So in two NBA finals games, Josh Hart has a total of three points. So not great for him. Carl Anthony Towns, as I mentioned, was absolutely awesome in every respect. 21 points, 13 rebounds. He had four assists, and it wasn't like because he took 30 shots. He only took, you know, 12 shots and he hit eight of them. Eight of 12 on the floor. He had both of his free throws. He was three for five on three pointers. What are you gonna say about Kat? Just spectacular. And you know, he added a steal, a block. Really, really, really, really, really good. There's almost nothing you can say. Three offensive rebounds, nothing negative about Kat. Just another outstanding, outstanding playoff game. One of the better centers. He's this is gonna go down and one of the better performances if he keeps it up in NBA Finals history for a center. Really outstanding, outstanding performance against a future, you know, one-of-a-kind superstar in Victor Wem and Yana. So it's not like he's playing no one out there and dominating over the Atlanta Hawks. You know, he's playing, you know, one of the best opposing centers, although he's young, you know, that you're gonna see. So Towns an awesome game. Awesome. Brunson, on the other hand, a mostly terrible game. He still ended up with 20 points, but he shot seven of twenty five from the field. Jalen Brunson was seven of twenty-five, which is really, really poor, right? Not great at all. Only two for eight on threes. Again, the the Knicks did this not because of Brunson. They won this game in spite of Brunson. And that says maybe even more about this Knicks team, and you know, perhaps turning into a team of destiny. Now, it's certainly early to say that. One more win, and then I think we can start talking a little more solidly about that. But at this point, to win this kind of game on the road in this atmosphere, which was nuts in the fourth quarter, with Brunson not doing anything, even in clutch time, he was not hitting, he had a wide open three at one point, and I mean nobody within 10 or 15 feet of him in the last, say, minute, minute and a half of the game, missed it. And I was like, wow, this is just not his night at all. But the Knicks won in spite of that. So he still had 20 points, seven of 25 shooting. And then again, the last one I'll talk about maybe Mikhail Bridges and Shamit. Bridges had 20 points, was awesome. Eight of 13 shooting, four of six on three pointers, Shamit 13 points on three of seven from three, excellent off the bench. McBride had ended up with five points, but hit a couple key shots in some key spots as well. And you know, I'm gonna probably wrap it here. It's

Final Thoughts And Subscribe Reminder

SPEAKER_00 15:05

very exciting. This is my sort of rapid response immediately after the game. Hot take on the New York Knicks. And boy, oh boy, it is an exciting, exciting, exciting time. If you are a New York Knicks fan, the Knicks have a 2-0 series lead in the NBA Finals. Let's go, Knicks, baby. That's gonna do it for the podcast. Thank you for listening to Jersey Guy Sports. Please subscribe, tell your friends all about it. Please like the podcast, download it. I'll be back soon with some more sports talk. Thanks and have a good day.