Wemby rues costly turnover as Spurs fall in Game 2 of NBA Finals

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsSAN ANTONIO -- Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle caught eyes with 12.7 seconds left on the clock and the score tied at 104-104, eagerly anticipating the payoff for the 14-point comeback San Antonio mounted in the fourth quarter of Game 2 of the NBA Finals.Having just contested a Jalen Brunson miss, Wembanyama grabbed his ninth rebound and looked to initiate the fast break for what could have been the game-winning basket. The Frenchman would later admit urgency got the better of him, ultimately leading to the Spurs falling 105-104 to the New York Knicks to go down 2-0 in the series.With Castle sprinting up the floor near the scorer's table just past San Antonio's bench, Wembanyama fired a pass that bounced off the back of the unsuspecting point guard and into Brunson's waiting hands.Wembanyama quickly fouled, and Brunson sank what turned out to be the game-winning free throw."That's the most frustrating thing: to throw it away after putting in all this work," Wembanyama said. "I threw that one away. I messed up. It's like the body reacts quicker than the mind. We needed to win that game. This game was ours. But at this point it's done. Am I going to regret it? Yes, of course. Am I going to use that to fuel me and fuel us to the next game? Absolutely."Castle explained that he was focused on giving Wembanyama space to dribble up the court."I didn't see him throw it to me," he said. "I see Vic has the ball, tie game. I was just trying to give Vic space."Somehow, the Knicks would grant Wembanyama one last chance to pull off a Spurs victory, but his 20-footer with seconds remaining over a contesting Mitchell Robinson hit the back of the rim. With the miss, Wembanyama is 1-of-9 on go-ahead field goal attempts in the final five seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime in his career in the regular season and the postseason; his lone make in that scenario came on March 19 and clinched San Antonio's playoff berth.Wembanyama said he was still "very blurry" when asked about the finish to Friday's game. Over the Spurs' last three possessions, after they called for a timeout with 39.3 seconds left, Wembanyama missed a 17-footer, committed the turnover off Castle's back and fouled Brunson, and misfired on the team's final shot of the night."That's the whole problem. I need to have more poise, more control of the game," he said. "I'm not going to go through the whole [three] possessions, but that's the general image. We need to put ourselves in better conditions. We're digging ourselves a hole. That's been the theme so far."San Antonio's 2-0 series hole has proved almost insurmountable in the past. No team has ever come back from losing its first two home games in the NBA Finals to win the series, but the sample size is small, limited to the 1993 Phoenix Suns, who lost in six games, and the 1995 Orlando Magic, who were swept.Teams have a 32-5 series record in the NBA Finals when they go up 2-0, with the last loss coming in 2016 by the Golden State Warriors against the Cleveland Cavaliers."We don't feel like we played well or up to our standard at least in the last two games," Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. "New York has played very well and they're a part of that. But we're going into Game 3. If we play our basketball up to our standard, we'll be just fine."The problem is New York isn't letting that happen.Wembanyama scored 22 of his game-high 29 points in the second half, including 10 during San Antonio's fourth-quarter comeback. But for the second time this postseason, the Spurs were outrebounded (44-42) at home. Before Game 2 of the NBA Finals, the last time San Antonio lost the battle on the glass at Frost Bank Center; it fell by 15 points in Game 3 of the conference finals against Oklahoma City.Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns, meanwhile, scored a team-high 21 points for New York. He's now hit 8 of 13 from the field over the first two games of this series with Wembanyama as his primary defender."The biggest thing for us is just staying together, not putting our heads down," rookie guard Dylan Harper said. "You've just got to focus on the next game. It's not the first to win two. So, we can't really hang our heads. We've just got to come out with a mentality of being more desperate."