The last 39 seconds of Game 2 in the 2026 NBA Finals wasn’t Victor Wembanyama’s finest moment.
The San Antonio Spurs’ 7-foot-5 all-world center came up small in the most crucial time. He missed two shots that could have given the Spurs the lead. He committed a crucial turnover that led to a Jalen Brunson free throw, giving the New York Knicks a 105-104 victory to take a 2-0 lead in the series.
“I threw that one away. I messed up,” Wembanyama told reporters after the game. “We didn’t play great as a team. We needed to win that game. That game was ours. But at this point, it’s done.”
With the game tied at 104, the Spurs called on Wemby’s number to break the tie. He took a tough, contested 18-foot pullup jumper from the left wing against Mitchell Robinson and missed. OG Anunoby grabbed the rebound and the Knicks called timeout.
Jalen Brunson, who was spectacular in closing the show in Game 1, missed a 16-footer with 13.5 seconds left. The Spurs regained possession after Wembanyama grabbed the rebound. For a brief moment, the Spurs had a great opportunity to take the lead and tie the series at 1-1. It was three seconds Wembanyama would love to have back. All the work the Spurs put forth in erasing a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter came crashing down in three forgettable seconds.
The play started with a Wemby rebound after he forced Brunson into a tough shot. As Wemby turned up the court, he took one dribble and inexplicably tossed the ball off Stephon Castle’s back, who clearly wasn’t expecting a pass as he ran up the court.
“That’s the most frustrating thing, to throw it away after putting in all this work,” Wemby said.
Brunson grabbed the loose ball and a frustrated Wembanyama compounded the mistake by fouling Brunson near the sideline. Brunson made one of two free throws to give the Knicks a one-point lead with 9.5 seconds left.
Wembanyama had one last opportunity to redeem himself, but he missed a 20-footer from the right wing with 2.0 seconds left and the Knicks were able to hang on for the win.
Wembanyama was asked after the game if he liked the look he got on the final shot.
“I like the shot. But I feel like at this moment you need to shoot to score,” said Wembanyama, who finished with a game-high 29 points, grabbed nine rebounds and had four blocked shots. None of those statistics matter to him because he didn’t get the job done when his team needed it most.
“In moments like this, results matter more than process,” he said. “We just need to score. I need to score.”
As the leader of the youngest team to reach the NBA Finals in 49 years, the 22-year-old Wembanyama is doing the right thing by owning his mistakes and not pointing fingers. And the Spurs wouldn’t be in this position without Wembanyama. He is the biggest reason why the Spurs are ahead of schedule. He will learn from this “blurry” moment as he called it. The game got blurry down the stretch because the action was moving too fast for Wemby and the Spurs.
“Am I going to regret it? Yes, of course. Am I going to use that to fuel me? Yes, absolutely,” said a humbled Wembanyama.
Michael Jordan got humbled by the Detroit Pistons before he won six championships. Before he became the Black Mamba, Kobe Bryant shot three air balls in a humbling playoff loss to the Utah Jazz. LeBron James got swept by Tim Duncan’s Spurs the first time he reached the NBA Finals.
Every great player goes through growing pains. Wembanyama is going through it as well.
The Knicks are now just the third team to win the first two games of a finals on the road, joining Jordan and the 1993 Chicago Bulls, and Hakeem Olajuwon and the 1995 Houston Rockets. Both of those teams won championships. The Bulls needed six games to oust the Phoenix Suns, the Rockets going home after winning those first two games in Orlando and sweeping the Magic.