00:00Jared Schwartz, the New York Post, here with the Knicks beat writer, Stephan Bondy.
00:05Knicks took their fans through the complete range of emotions in this one,
00:08a 105-104 Game 2 win over the Spurs.
00:12They saw a 14-point lead evaporate in the fourth quarter, still ended up winning.
00:18He's had a little bit of everything, but they go back to New York taking a commanding 2-0 lead.
00:23Let's start with Victor Wembenyama. I know you wrote about him.
00:27He played well in the fourth quarter until the end.
00:29He missed two shots and had a turnover in between.
00:32What do you make of that and the job that the Knicks did on him in those moments?
00:36Yeah, all right. Well, the gist of my column was the Knicks didn't win this game.
00:40Wembenyama lost it.
00:42And listen, in order to have a 12-game winning streak in the playoffs, you need that sometimes.
00:46It's not always about you being excellent.
00:48It's about the opponent making mistakes.
00:50And that's what happened down the stretch here.
00:52Victor Wembenyama inexplicably right here in that corner.
00:56He had a shot with about 30 seconds left, 32 seconds left, 17 seconds left on the shot clock, tie
01:03ball game.
01:03And he just pulls up from about the three-point line in a tightly contested shot that predictably bricked.
01:09On the next possession, Spurs' possession, he picks up a rebound.
01:14And he starts what looks like it's going to be a transition possession.
01:18And he throws it up to Stephon Castle, who's turned his back.
01:20So he threw it into Stephon Castle's back.
01:23Jalen Brunson was there to get the steal.
01:25Jalen Brunson was there to get fouled.
01:28He hit the game-winning foul shot.
01:30Victor Wembenyama then missed a shot.
01:32And the Knicks come out of here with a win.
01:33Now, some of that was Mitchell Robinson playing pretty good defense on Victor Wembenyama,
01:39especially on this final shot before the buzzer.
01:42He was doing, you know, he's the one guy that could kind of match Victor Wembenyama's size.
01:47And he did that efficiently.
01:48So give Mitchell Robinson some credit there.
01:51But overall, I think this was an opportunity for Victor Wembenyama,
01:54a guy who's saying he's going to be the greatest player of all time.
01:58And he kind of folded down the stretch.
02:00I mean, it has to feel good for Mitchell Robinson, right?
02:02I mean, there was so much uncertainty.
02:03Maybe not so much uncertainty, but there was uncertainty with him
02:06when we found out he had the broken bone in his hand.
02:10He had surgery.
02:11Obviously, the Knicks have been very cryptic and mysterious with how he sustained that injury.
02:17And a couple days ago, we didn't know for sure that he was going to be playing game one.
02:20And even if he did play, we didn't know how effective he was going to be.
02:23There he was in the last two shots of the game defending Wembeny.
02:27Yeah, Wembeny missed, but he affected that last shot at least.
02:30You know, Wembeny is 7'4", and it had to fade away.
02:34Mike Brown was super complimentary of him saying he defended without foul,
02:39and that was the key because it's so easy to foul a guy like Wembeny.
02:41You know, you have to feel good for a guy like Mitchell Robinson.
02:45Jalen Brunson struggled with his shot.
02:48Yeah.
02:49Not a good offensive game for Jalen Brunson.
02:52He had a lot of turnovers.
02:53Still at the end, he made a few of those key shots at the end.
02:55But, you know, what does it say that the Knicks end up winning despite a off-Brunson game?
03:01Yeah, I mean, it required some resilience.
03:04It required bits and pieces throughout the game from different people.
03:07Cat had a tremendous first half.
03:10Then he got into foul trouble off some two questionable calls in the third quarter.
03:14That threw him off rhythm.
03:15He never really regained that rhythm.
03:19Mikel, yes, Mikel Bridges, I thought had a tremendous game through three quarters.
03:24Kind of started to tail off down the stretch when it became Brunson time.
03:27The problem tonight was Brunson couldn't hit anything.
03:30He missed a big free throw, but he also missed a layup.
03:34So this was not a night for Captain Clutch to take you home.
03:38Yeah, he did hit a big shot with about 39 seconds left,
03:41and he did hit one of the two free throws.
03:43But this was not a Captain Clutch night.
03:45It was a team effort to come through
03:47and really just take advantage of what the Spurs were giving you.
03:51I found it interesting after the game.
03:53Weminyam, of course, is making excuses.
03:55And one of them was that, you know, personally,
03:58I didn't really get over the conference finals.
04:01And, you know, I thought that was going to be an issue coming into this series.
04:04And I think you see it across San Antonio's roster
04:07where they viewed beating the Oklahoma City Thunder as their holy grail.
04:11They spent, they built, went a whole year trying to beat this team.
04:16They knew they were going to face them in the conference finals.
04:19They got over that hurdle, and now it's kind of a letdown for them.
04:23And we've seen that in the past.
04:24We saw that the Knicks were built to beat the Boston Celtics.
04:27What happened?
04:27They lose to the Indiana Pacers.
04:29The Minnesota Timberwolves were built to beat the Denver Nuggets,
04:32and then they lose to another team later on.
04:35So we've seen that before, and I think we're seeing part of that now.
04:37Do you think there's a maturity advantage that the Knicks have,
04:39you know, in terms of that the Spurs are young?
04:41This is their first go-around.
04:42Obviously, like you said, beating the Thunder was like their Super Bowl.
04:46And that the Knicks have, you know, had multiple playoff runs under their belt.
04:49They breezed through two easy playoff rounds before this.
04:51They were not coming off an emotional, you know, roller coaster like the Spurs are.
04:55And they're a lot older.
04:56They're a lot more experienced, a lot further in their careers.
04:58They've seen a lot more.
04:59They've been through a lot more together.
05:00And, you know, we're seeing some of that play out in terms of they overcame a 14-point deficit in
05:07Game 1.
05:07They overcame a 12-point deficit in the second quarter today.
05:11And overcame a blown 14-point lead of themselves.
05:14That, you know, whatever is thrown at them, they kind of just figure out a way.
05:17Yeah, and I wrote that too in my column.
05:19That's a big factor in this series.
05:20It's an experience factor.
05:22The Knicks have it.
05:23And it came through totally in a game like tonight where you saw the Knicks, you know,
05:30they had enough composure and experience to pull it out down the stretch.
05:34And the Spurs just didn't know what they were doing in time.
05:36So that has definitely been a factor in this series.
05:39And it's why we talk about different, not different traditions,
05:44but different trends in the NBA and in the playoffs.
05:47You have to lose before you win.
05:50And the Spurs are at this level for the first time.
05:54Now, a lot of the Knicks are too, but you mentioned they've been through the battles many times.
05:59They got to the conference finals last year.
06:01This is really the first run for the Spurs, and you're seeing it.
06:04If LeBron had to lose the finals before he won, Wemby thinks he's the next LeBron.
06:09Maybe he has to lose the finals.
06:10That's what it looks like.
06:11Well, he thinks he's better than LeBron.
06:13So we'll see.
06:14I mean, listen, the thing about Wemby, you look at the guy and you're like,
06:19wow, this guy, he's made in a video game.
06:23But then I'm watching him against the Knicks, and they're doing a great job against him.
06:27Give Cat a ton of credit.
06:29Cat has outplayed Victor Wemby-Yama.
06:31That's a big storyline in this series.
06:33One thing that stands out to me is for as big as he is, he doesn't have a ton of
06:36lower body strength.
06:37And Cat has muscled him around.
06:39Mitchell Robinson has muscled him around.
06:40A couple times, O.G. Ananobi's been mashed up with him.
06:43He's held his own.
06:44And Wemby's kind of been settling for long mid-range shots and three-pointers and step-backs.
06:49He's not finishing around the basket like he did in some of those games against the Thunder.
06:53So that's one thing that stood out to me.
06:56It's 13 straight wins.
06:58Incredible.
06:59Incredible.
06:59It's 2-0 going home now.
07:02Only two other teams in NBA history had lost the first two games of the finals as the home team.
07:08The Spurs are now the third.
07:10The other two lost.
07:12History's on the Knicks side.
07:13Yeah.
07:14It's pretty much in their hands right now.
07:1650-year, three-year drought should be over.
07:20It's in the Knicks court.
07:22They just got to handle business at the Garden.
07:25And I thought it was ridiculous that the Spurs were the betting favorites in this series.
07:30I thought it was silly.
07:30They were six and a half point favorites tonight.
07:33Yeah.
07:34Well, I mean, why don't you bet?
07:36I would have made a lot of money.
07:37I don't bet.
07:38I don't gamble.
07:39But I would have made a lot of money because I would have bet on the Knicks in this series.
07:43They're just playing out of their minds.
07:44And like I said, sometimes you don't have to play well.
07:47You got to get lucky.
07:48You got to count on the opposition making mistakes.
07:51And that's what happened tonight.
07:52One thing that they have in their favor is Mikael Bridges was part of that Suns team that
07:56was up 2-0 in the series and then lost four straight to the Bucs.
07:59So they do have someone on the team who has some experience in where they are right now.
08:04So we'll see.
08:04We'll see how it goes.
08:06That's Steph Bondi.
08:07I'm Jared Schwartz.
08:08Knicks are taking a 2-0 lead home.
08:10We'll see you there.
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