SAN ANTONIO (Interstat) — Jalen Brunson made a go-ahead free throw with 9.5 seconds left after a Victor Wembanyama turnover, and Wembanyama missed a jumper at the buzzer, giving the New York Knicks a 105-104 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night at Frost Bank Center. The win gave New York a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals. Karl-Anthony Towns led the Knicks with 21 points and 13 rebounds, while Mikal Bridges added 20 points and six assists. Brunson finished with 20 points, five rebounds and six assists. OG Anunoby scored 17 points. Wembanyama posted 29 points, nine rebounds and four blocks for the Spurs. De’Aaron Fox scored 20 points, and Devin Vassell and Stephon Castle each added 14 points. Dylan Harper contributed 15 points. New York trailed 34-25 after the first quarter but outscored San Antonio 31-18 in the second to take a 56-52 halftime lead. The Knicks led 84-75 entering the fourth quarter. The Spurs rallied and took a 104-103 lead on Wembanyama’s layup with 57.3 seconds remaining. Brunson answered with a fadeaway jumper to put New York ahead 105-104 with 39.3 seconds left. Attendance was 19,014. The Knicks improved to 68-32, while the Spurs fell to 74-29. Game 3 is Monday in New York.

SAN ANTONIO (Interstat) — Go crazy, New York. Or, perhaps more accurately, crazier. The red-hot Knicks are going home, two wins away from an NBA championship that the capital of the world has been waiting to see for generations. Jalen Brunson hit a go-ahead free throw with 9.5 seconds left after a turnover by Victor Wembanyama moments earlier, then Wembanyama missed a jumper at the end of New York’s 105-104 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night for a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals. The game at the Frost Bank Center, attended by 19,014, was a back-and-forth thriller that saw the Knicks overcome a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter. New York trailed 95-86 with 4:17 to play after a 3-pointer by Devin Vassell, but a 13-4 run over the next three minutes tied the game at 99. Brunson’s layup with 1:56 left pulled the Knicks within two, and after San Antonio stretched the lead back to five on a layup by Dylan Harper and a three-point play by Wembanyama, Brunson answered with a fadeaway jumper to make it 104-102 with 39.3 seconds remaining. The Spurs had the ball and a chance to seal the game, but Wembanyama missed a 16-foot pullup jumper with 30.3 seconds left. The Knicks rebounded, and Brunson drove for a potential game-tying shot but missed a 16-foot pullup with 13.5 seconds left. Wembanyama grabbed the rebound and was immediately fouled by Josh Hart with 9.5 seconds remaining. But on the inbounds pass, Wembanyama threw the ball away, and Brunson picked off the errant pass. He was fouled by Stephon Castle with 9.5 seconds left, made the first free throw and missed the second. San Antonio called timeout with 7.5 seconds left, and Wembanyama got a clean look at a 20-foot jumper at the buzzer, but it missed, sending the Knicks to a 2-0 series lead. Karl-Anthony Towns was the top performer for New York, recording 21 points, 13 rebounds and four assists in 34 minutes. He scored 10 points in the first half, including a pair of 3-pointers, and added a key dunk in the fourth quarter. Towns also had a block and was a presence inside against the taller Wembanyama. Wembanyama led all scorers with 29 points on 10-of-19 shooting, adding nine rebounds and four blocks. But he committed four turnovers, including the critical one in the final seconds. De’Aaron Fox added 20 points, five assists and three rebounds for San Antonio, while Devin Vassell had 14 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Dylan Harper scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds, and Stephon Castle chipped in 14 points. For the Knicks, Mikal Bridges scored 20 points, six rebounds and six assists, including a pair of 3-pointers in the second quarter that helped New York erase a 34-25 first-quarter deficit. OG Anunoby added 17 points, four rebounds and three assists, while Brunson finished with 20 points, five rebounds and six assists, despite shooting 7 of 20 from the field. Brunson made two free throws in the first quarter and a step-back jumper in the third, but his biggest play was the steal and the free throw that decided the game. The game started with San Antonio taking control early. The Spurs shot 12 of 20 from the floor in the first quarter, building a 34-25 lead behind 3-pointers from Julian Champagnie and Vassell, and a dunk by Wembanyama. New York struggled from the field, shooting 7 of 18, and turned the ball over four times. But the Knicks responded in the second quarter, outscoring the Spurs 31-18. Towns hit a 3-pointer and a driving dunk, Bridges added two 3-pointers, and Anunoby made a free throw after a flagrant foul by Josh Hart. The Knicks took a 56-52 lead at halftime. The third quarter was a back-and-forth affair. New York stretched the lead to 64-52 on a 3-pointer by Bridges early in the quarter, but San Antonio answered with a 12-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer from Wembanyama, to tie the game at 64. The Knicks regained the lead on a layup by Anunoby, but the Spurs took a 75-73 lead into the fourth quarter after a pullup jumper by Wembanyama with 19.6 seconds left. The fourth quarter saw San Antonio push the lead to nine points on a 3-pointer by Fox with 5:27 left, making it 88-79. But the Knicks clawed back. Bridges hit a pullup jumper, Anunoby made a driving dunk, and Miles McBride drained a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 88-84. After a free throw by Harper, Towns scored on a layup, and Brunson’s layup made it 90-88. Wembanyama answered with a finger roll layup, and Vassell hit a 3-pointer to make it 95-88 with 3:55 left. But the Knicks kept fighting. Anunoby made three free throws after a shooting foul, and Brunson’s layup cut the lead to 99-96. After a three-point play by Wembanyama made it 104-99, Brunson’s fadeaway jumper cut it to 104-102. The Knicks’ victory improved their season record to 68-32, while the Spurs fell to 74-29. The series now shifts to New York for Game 3 on Monday. Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of San Antonio 121, New York 108, and its ELO system gave the Spurs a 50.40 percent probability to win. San Antonio was installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus-5.5 points. The total score of 209 went over the over-under line of 213.5.

SAN ANTONIO (Interstat) — The San Antonio Spurs host the New York Knicks on Friday night in Game 1 of their playoff series, a matchup of the NBA’s two winningest teams this season. The Spurs (74-28) earned the top seed in the Western Conference, while the Knicks (67-32) finished second in the East. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. at Frost Bank Center, where San Antonio has been installed as a 5.5-point favorite. The over/under is 213.5 points. Both teams feature generational big men. Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama averaged 26.0 points, 12.0 rebounds and 3.0 blocks in his last three games, including a 26-point, 12-rebound effort in Wednesday’s 105-95 loss to New York in the regular-season finale. The 7-foot-4 Frenchman has recorded five double-doubles in his past seven outings. Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns has been equally dominant, posting four double-doubles in his last six games. In Wednesday’s win over San Antonio, Towns had 18 points, 12 rebounds and four assists. He shot 50% from the field in that contest and has averaged 16.7 points and 11.3 rebounds over his past seven games overall. Wednesday’s meeting marked the fourth head-to-head between the clubs this season. New York won three of four, including a 114-89 victory in San Antonio on March 1 and a 124-113 home win Dec. 16. The lone Spurs victory came on Dec. 31, a 134-132 overtime thriller in San Antonio. The series will shift to New York for Games 2 and 3 on Monday and Wednesday, respectively.