{"id":1975129,"date":"2026-06-06T04:46:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T01:46:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1975129"},"modified":"2026-06-06T04:46:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T01:46:16","slug":"spurs-victor-wembanyama-reflects-on-end-of-game-2-i-threw-that-one-away-i-messed-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1975129","title":{"rendered":"Spurs\u2019 Victor Wembanyama reflects on end of Game 2: \u2018I threw that one away. I messed up\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

SAN ANTONIO \u2014 The final 30 seconds of Game 2 were pretty brutal for Victor Wembanyama, the San Antonio Spurs\u2019 rising superstar, with two misses and a disastrous turnover.<\/p>\n

The turnover may have been the most costly. With the score tied 104-104 and about 12 seconds left Friday, New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson missed a jumper, and Wembanyama grabbed the rebound. He started to push the ball ahead and then threw a pass to teammate Stephon Castle, whose back was turned so he, too, could sprint down the court.<\/p>\n

Wembanyama\u2019s pass hit Castle in the back, and Brunson corralled it and drew a foul on Wemby.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI was looking at him when he first got the rebound,\u201d Castle said. \u201cI just started to take off to try to give him some space to dribble up the court. I didn\u2019t see him throw it to me.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt that point, I\u2019m just running up the court. I see Vic has the ball. Tie game. I\u2019m just trying to give him space.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Brunson made one of two foul shots for the Knicks\u2019 105-104 win and a 2-0 series lead in the 2026 NBA Finals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the most frustrating thing, to throw it away after putting in all this work,\u201d Wembanyama said. \u201cI threw that one away. I messed up.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

{“endpoint”:”https:\/\/api-prd-nyt.theathletic.com\/graphql”}<\/p>\n

The Knicks\u2019 OG Anunoby dunked on Wembanyama with about six minutes left for a 97-83 lead. Rather than sink the Spurs, the dunk served as a wake-up call. San Antonio scored the next 14 points to tie the score.<\/p>\n

Wemby, after scoring just 7 points on four shots in the first half, scored 10 in the final quarter and finished with 29 points (on 11-of-21 shooting), nine rebounds and four blocks. He was the screener for De\u2019Aaron Fox on the final possession, and Fox threw the ball back to him off the roll for a 20-footer that clanged off the back of the rim.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course I liked the shot,\u201d said Wembanyama, whose tough 30 seconds began with a missed 17-footer and the score tied 104-104. \u201cI feel like in this moment you need to shoot to score. In moments like this, it\u2019s like results matter more than process, if you know what I mean. We just need to score. I just need to score. That\u2019s the whole point.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Wemby said he was \u201cblurry\u201d over the final three possessions. He likely meant that it was all still a haze, just moments after the game had ended, and said, \u201cI need to have more poise, more control over the game.\u201d He also said the Spurs have been digging themselves into holes that are leaving them in tough spots.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s been the theme so far,\u201d Wembanyama said.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

This is Wembanyama\u2019s first playoff run. That it will end, up or down, in the finals is a remarkable feat for a 22-year-old who is clearly his team\u2019s best player. He said, \u201cI think I could have been better in recovering from the high of the conference finals,\u201d referencing the euphoria of winning Games 6 and 7 against the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder to reach this point.<\/p>\n

But now he and the Spurs are in a hole that few have been able to dig out of. Teams that trail 2-0 in the finals have gone on to win just five of 37 series, and none of those wins came when the first two losses occurred at home.<\/p>\n

Thinking about his tough finish to Friday\u2019s game, Wembanyama said: \u201cAm I going to regret it? Yes, of course. Am I going to use that to fuel me and to fuel us next game? Absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2014 The final 30 seconds of Game 2 were pretty brutal for Victor Wembanyama, the San Antonio Spurs\u2019 rising superstar, with two misses and a disastrous turnover. The turnover may have been the most costly. With the score tied 104-104 and about 12 seconds left Friday, New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson missed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1975129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1975129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975129\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1975129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1975129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1975129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}