Two things that left Spurs frozen in final 30 seconds vs Knicks could cost them entire series
Two things that left Spurs frozen in final 30 seconds vs Knicks could cost them entire series originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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The San Antonio Spurs made a disappointing exit from the 2026 NBA Finals Game 2. After erasing a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit to tie the score at 104 with under a minute left, they had every chance to steal Game 2 at home. But they didn’t.
The Knicks escaped with a nail-biting 105-104 victory, extending New York’s incredible playoff win streak to 13 with the second-longest in NBA history and taking a 2-0 series lead.
What killed San Antonio wasn’t the deficit. It was the final 30 seconds after they’d already done the hard part.
Following a timeout with 39.3 seconds remaining, Victor Wembanyama missed a 17-foot jumper, turned the ball over off Stephon Castle’s back, fouled Jalen Brunson and missed the game-winning shot at the buzzer. He admitted in his postgame press conference that things felt blurry in that moment, leaving him with little clarity about what went wrong
Jeremy Lin, the 2019 NBA champion with the Toronto Raptors and the first Asian-American to win a title, broke it all down on NBA Base, identifying inexperience and fatigue as what doomed the Spurs in their home.
“The Spurs have so much heart. 14-0 run to come back into the game,” Lin said, “but the last 30 seconds, just so much inexperience, whether you want to call it youth, whether you want to call it fatigue, it just wasn’t it.”
Jeremy Lin says “inexperience” and “fatigue” completely ruined the Spurs in the final 30 seconds of Game 2:
“The Spurs have so much heart. 14-0 run to come back into the game, but the last 30 seconds, just so much inexperience — whether you want to call it youth, whether you… pic.twitter.com/Stokac1S7c
— NBA Base (@TheNBABase) June 6, 2026
Lin highlighted two main mistakes. First was the poor shot selection, an isolated jumper by Wembanyama over Mitchell Robinson that missed. Second was the lack of leadership on the next possession.
“Wemby was dribbling up, Castle wasn’t looking for the ball, and nobody knew who was in charge or if they should call a timeout,” Lin said. “It just seemed, as Wemby said, very blurry.”
Wemby himself admitted after the loss that he needs to have more poise and more control over the game. The contrast Lin drew is what should concern the Spurs most heading into Game 3.
“If the roles were reversed and the Knicks got the ball, they would immediately find Brunson, and he would immediately find the mismatch that he wants,” Lin said.
No team in NBA Finals history has ever come back from a 0-2 deficit after dropping both games on their home floor. The series now shifts to Madison Square Garden, which is arguably the most hostile environment in the NBA. Since this young Spurs core has already struggled at home, things won’t be easier for them in the Knicks’ home.
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