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You don’t want to make declarative statements midway through a series.

The job is nowhere near finished, even if history and all logic suggests that a team who’s had the most dominant 13-game winning streak in the history of basketball won’t suddenly go 1-4 with three remaining games at home.

Knicks fans have waited 53 years for this, they can wait another week or two to fully celebrate.

You always look for defining plays, stretches, or sequences to describe a series. Not everyone is going to be tuned into these games, and future generations will only have highlights to go off of. So naturally, we look for compelling moments and stories to tell the story to future generations to come.

What will it be for this series? That’s not entirely set in stone, but the final minute of Game 2 showed you everything you need to know about why the Knicks are in firm control of the NBA Finals, heading into potentially the greatest atmosphere in sports history at the World’s Most Famous Arena on Monday.

To set the stage, the Knicks led by 14 points with just over six minutes to go. They were one point away from the game being mathematically over, by Knicks standards. Since the 2023 playoffs, the Knicks are 124-1 when they lead by 15+ points in the second half, the best record in basketball. The one loss… we don’t have to talk about.

But hitting the 14-point glass ceiling couldn’t protect them. The Spurs went on a remarkable 14-0 run that put the vice grip on the Knicks’ offense, scoring on 9 of 10 possessions. At one point, they even held a two-point lead on a go-ahead and-1 layup by Victor Wembanyama.

The comeback was complete. The crowd was alive. The Knicks and their fans were stunned. In almost every other circumstance, the Spurs win that game.

But they didn’t, and that’s why we’re here. Experience matters.

The Knicks have lived through this game before. Multiple times.

Game 5 against the Sixers in 2024.

Game 3 against the Pacers in 2024.

Game 6 against the Pistons in 2025.

Game 1 against the Pacers in 2025.

Game 2 against the Hawks less than two months ago.

They know what it’s like to be in the shoes of a favorite who’s bottling a big lead in a potential series-defining game. They’ve won some, they’ve lost some.

They also know what it’s like to be the Spurs in that spot. The way it felt to come up short on brilliant late rallies in Game 6 against Miami in 2023 and Game 3 earlier this year. To have your heart ripped out at the last second.

They also have the experience of getting the job done in the Spurs’ shoes. Games 1 and 2 in Boston, Game 3 in Indiana. They’re battle-tested for any experience you throw them into.

Meanwhile, for San Antonio, how much experience do they have at this stage? Outside of De’Aaron Fox and Harrison Barnes, pretty much nothing.

They overcame big first-half deficits in a weird series against Portland. They overcame 0-1 and 1-2 deficits against Minnesota. They outexecuted OKC in two clutch games to open and close that thrilling Western Conference Finals. But in terms of clutch situations, they didn’t have nearly enough experience there.

It took the Knicks several dozen games of playing every single type of series, matchup, and game against a multitude of opponents for them to gain the composure they currently have. Young teams like the Spurs rarely have that fortitude.

Every generational talent has to go through adversity. LeBron didn’t make the Finals until 2007 and was swept. Michael Jordan paid his dues against the Celtics and Bad Boys Pistons before breaking through in 1991. Shaq ran into Hakeem in 1995. Even when Kobe Bryant and Magic Johnson lifted the Larry O’Brien Trophy in their early 20s, they did it with a tremendous veteran co-star.

Back to the game itself, the 2025 Clutch Player of the Year finally snapped out of whatever had been tormenting him by casually nailing a Dirk fadeaway to tie the game back up at 104. The Spurs came back down and Wemby threw up a brick on a long two on the baseline.

Back with the ball, Brunson once again tried to isolate on the unanimous Defensive Player of the Year… and missed. With 14 seconds left, the Spurs had the ball. The game was in their hands.

But the inexperience showed again.

Wembanyama looked off Stephon Castle initially, leading to the second-year guard believing the 7’5” behemoth was going to call his own number as he did in Oklahoma City. Instead, he felt the basketball hit off his back, resulting in an instant blooper of a turnover that resulted in Brunson going to the line for free throws (the only time in the second half by the entire team, excluding Anunoby’s, which needed to be overturned by replay, btw). Oh yeah, did I mention that Mitch Johnson elected not to call a timeout?

Brunson only went 1-for-2, meaning the Spurs would have eight seconds to make one shot and tie the series up. Fox, who was in a real groove in the second half, got the inbound and drove, but instead of shooting, he kicked it to Wemby.

It could’ve been as easy as a Fox mid-range with the 7’5” French native crashing the glass for a putback at the buzzer, but instead, Wembanyama pulled up from the elbow and missed again. The hubris, the inexperience, the lack of late-game awareness.

All of it had the Spurs staring down the barrel of a 0-2 deficit going on the road. They walked into the locker room not only dejected, but laboring. Fox, Castle, and Dylan Harper all got banged up in the fourth quarter. Wemby has been visibly gassed all series long after playing a career-high 120 minutes over his last three games.

The biggest obstacle for the Spurs might not even be the deficit and the circumstances; it might be their body clocks. You can have all the youth in the world, but when you’re heading into your 103rd game of the season, you need to have the callouses to survive.

Harper and Castle are one or two years removed from playing 35 games a year in college. All the other important players, even if they are conditioned to 82-game seasons, have never experienced a deep playoff run. When the best-case scenario now has you playing 4-5 more physical games while suffering from a conditioning, experience, and fatigue disadvantage, that’s not a good sign.

You know who it is a good sign for? The Knicks. Good thing we’re all Knicks fans, right?

I don’t particularly care for people who say, “I’ll be honest with you,” after I’ve had an hour-long conversation with them about their family, work, or the car they’re trying to sell me. So you were lying this whole time? You don’t have two kids, and this car has NO WHEELS? But that being said, I’ll be honest with you: I was fully expecting the San Antonio Spurs to win Game 2 so that on the heels of the overreactions from Game 1, I was hoping to careen in the complete opposite direction and declare this Spurs team the greatest team to ever walk the Earth if that final shot from Victor Wembanyama went through the hoop.

But. We’re here, and I’m committed to the bit. Let’s panic some more.

10. Even the Knicks alums outnumbered the Spurs alum. I saw the great George Gervin sitting behind the great David Robinson, and I saw my personal G.O.A.T. Manu Ginóbili stop by the Inside the NBA booth. But then I also noticed former Knicks players in attendance like Walt Frazier Jr., Patrick Ewing, Allan Houston, and Billy Baldwin. Sure, Billy Baldwin wasn’t a Knick, but there’s so many Baldwin brothers that you can’t tell me that at least one of them suited up for the team at one point or another. And yes, I know (as the graphic below illustrates), apparently there were other notable Spurs alums like Tim Duncan and Danny Green in attendance, but we’re overreacting remember? So facts and evidence or any reasonable arguments have no place here.

9. The average price of gas in the United States is $4.22 per gallon. This particular overreaction is related to basketball because as number 10 above suggests, even millionaire celebrities and former professional athletes are flocking down to San Antonio because the cost of living is so high in New York.

“I threw that one away. I messed up … Am I going to regret it? Yes, of course. Am I gonna use that to fuel me and to fuel us next game? Absolutely.”

Yes, Victor Wembanyama, we hope you do use that to fuel you and fuel your team for the next game. But I suggest a rewards card, coupons, or something because gas prices are more insane than that almost comeback down 14 points with about 6 minutes remaining.

8. Luke Kornet has too many jobs on this team. Let’s list them out: official pregame salsa dancer, grab any and every single rebound that ever existed, did exist, will exist, and might exist (yes, even theoretical rebounds) whenever his feet touches the floor, block every shot in his orbit, beyond his orbit, even ones in black holes (yes, we expect him to defy physics and reach into a super compact astronomical body where even light cannot escape—but he better come back out with a block or a steal). And he’s supposed to do all of this in 5 – 7 minutes per game. Got it? Good. Do it again!

7. The NBA needs more father/assistant coaches of players getting into on-court ruckuses with opposing team players. I’m not saying there’s not enough distractions during a Finals game, but given the entertainment value and to help cope with big losses, I feel like we could use more drama during these games. There’s a certain uncle I remember from the Spurs’ past who would might be suited for such a kerfuffle between relatives adjacent to their family members who happen to be professional athletes and other professional athletes.

6. The nuns are back in. I would like to apologize for what I said about not needing the nuns after Game 1. Our boys are down 0-2. At this point, we need more nuns, more monks, more Jedi, whatever divine intervention or universal power that will will this team back to the victory column. Baby Yoda (Grogu) is only 53 years old? So that means he’s too young to have allied himself with an NBA team yet. Let’s play the celebrity card against the Knickerbockers and recruit Pedro Pascal (who grew up in San Antonio!) to influence Grogu to swear allegiance to the Spurs before those evil Sith Lords from Madison Square Garden sink their claws into him.

I’m waaay past shock, panic, and anger. I’m at the bargaining stage where if “The Force” can get the Spurs two wins on the road in NYC then sign me up for a lifetime of dressing in robes and living in mud huts in the swamp. I mean, I’ve been to Florida—I can handle it.

5. The Spurs are not spoiled enough.

We’re kind of like spoiled kids,” he said. “For some of us, it’s our first season and we’re already in the Finals. We don’t fully realize it yet. And to me, the team that appreciates the position we’re in the most will be the one that wins.”

Three straight lottery picks that are panning out so far? Boring. Five titles in six finals trips that span over a consistent-never-miss-the-playoffs, multi-decade benchmark of excellence? Wake me up when we win ten titles in row. Wembanyama is wrong here. We need to be more spoiled. It’s not enough if the other fan bases become extremely annoyed with us, it needs to extend to other sports like football, fútbol (soccer, for you domestic heathens), cricket, and other species like dolphins, crickets, and penguins. They all need to be annoyed at how much winning the Spurs are obtaining.

4. Playoff scars are too gruesome. Yeah sure, the Oklahoma Thunder (the latest version) went through it in 2024 when they lost to the Dallas Mavericks before breaking through last year. But the Mavericks made it to the Finals that year with a young team! And they (checks notes) lost to the Boston Celtics (the latest version), who had their own long list of heart-breaking playoff losses. For every young team that magically made it to the Finals or close to getting to the finals on their first run with a specific squad and superstar (e.g., Thunder, Mavericks, Pacers, these Spurs), there was another team with their own playoff scars that were either more experienced or had better injury luck (like the New York Knicks).

It happens, but I don’t want it happen. It’s mentally taxing. Instead of playoff scars, can we just get playoff “boo boos,” orange slices, and maybe a birria taco? Are we still at the bargaining stage? In exchange for two wins on the road in NYC for the Spurs, can we send all the birria tacos to Manhattan AND I’ll move to Florida?

3. Victor Wembanyama might need contacts, goggles, LASIK, or is still suffering from that concussion from round 1.

“I’m still very blurry, and that’s the whole problem. I need to have more poise, more control over the game.”

Blurry? Sir, what do you need because I know people who know people who can get you giant sports goggles so big that it would make Horace Grant blush. I mean Wembanyama did shoot 52% from the field, which was a marked improvement from Game 1’s 29% field goal percentage. So I guess when he meant “blurry” he was talking about poise and control over the game, the very thing he elaborated on in the second sentence of that quote. No one said reading comprehension was important outside of the SATs anyway. That would be insane.

2. The Spurs are too mature for their age. Speaking of insanity, that late turnover by Wembanyama was complete bonkers. What made it more crazy for me was how quickly Wembanyama accepted responsibility, apologized, and also how calmly Stephon Castle dapped him in the chest and (presumably) told him it’s OK, or to presumably tell him that it was actually his fault. It matters whose fault it is because it was a huge blunder, but it also didn’t matter because the game wasn’t over, and they almost won it anyway. ALMOST BEING THE OPERATIVE WORD. But. You get what I’m saying.

I mean what, I’m supposed to believe that with about 10 seconds left in Game 2 of the NBA freakin’ Finals that a 22 year old and a 21 year old handled that big of a turnover during the most crucial part of the most important game they’ve ever played (so far) in their professional lives with the maturity of Van Halen and David Lee Roth reuniting after decades of animosity?

Where’s the yelling? Where’s the blame game? Where is that photo of LeBron James with two arms outstretched as he incredulously gawks at J.R. Smith during the 2018 Finals?

If the actual players on the floor are more poised and calm even in the face of mistakes, why couldn’t us fans be as zen? Because that’s what we do: we’re freaking out, man.

1. Desperate times call for desperate mentalities.

“It’s not the first to win two … We just have to come out with a mentality of just being more desperate.”

OK so I really like this quote not because Dylan Harper said it but because Dylan Harper said it as convincingly as his play on the court has been. The fans seem pretty desperate. I’m told no car horns were honked throughout the burrows of San Antonio. At least Spurs-related honking. There’s always honking on 1604 because it’s more of a mosh pit for cars than a major highway.

At least the players are saying the quiet part out loud. They have to be desperate because us couch riders are already there.

The player who almost spoiled one of the great NBA playoff hot streaks of all time is in awe of the Knicks’ run to 13 straight victories.

Hawks star CJ McCollum, who was well on his way to being the next memorable Knicks’ playoff villain after three games of the first-round series, shared a message along with the highlight of his jump shot to lift the Hawks to a 109-108 victory on April 23.

“Sick,” McCollum wrote on X early Saturday. “Knicks have been a different team since this moment.”

McCollum taunted the Madison Square Garden crowd with big shots and gestures as the Hawks stole Game 2 of their series against the Knicks. Then he hit the game-winner in Game 3 in Atlanta to give the Hawks a 2-1 series edge.

The Knicks haven’t lost since, winning three straight to close out the Hawks, sweeping the 76ers and Cavaliers, and taking a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals with back-to-back wins in San Antonio.

McCollum faded in the final three games of the Knicks-Hawks series. Josh Hart, his former Trail Blazers teammate, took the main assignment of defending McCollum, whose averages dipped to 11.3 points on 39.5 percent shooting from the floor over three straight losses.

McCollum had been bargaining to join the likes of Michael Jordan, Reggie Miller, P.J. Brown and Trae Young as Knicks’ playoff tormentors.

The Knicks’ last possession of their most recent loss ended with a turnover by Jalen Brunson. In the Finals, Brunson has shaken off two poor shooting games to become the first player since at least 1971 to score the final go-ahead points in the last two minutes of back-to-back games, per ESPN.

De’Aaron Fox tried to get in Brunson’s head late in Game 2 with a face-to-face staredown after committing a foul along the sideline, but Brunson didn’t take the bait. His father, Knicks assistant coach Rick Brunson, wasn’t having it.