Frazier calls Knicks’ Finals start destiny after 105-104

Walt Frazier says the Knicks’ road start to the NBA Finals feels “like destiny” after a 105-104 Game 2 win over the San Antonio Spurs that pushed New York to a 2-0 lead. He pointed to roster choices, the team’s late-game composure, and the kind of togetherness

SAN ANTONIO — Minutes before the buzzer on Friday night, the orange-and-blue noise inside Frost Bank Center turned into something close to panic.

Victor Wembanyama had a potential game-winning jumper. The shot clanked off the back rim, and the Knicks escaped with a 105-104 win that gave them a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals.

Inside the building, the celebration landed on every level at once. Patrick Ewing and Allan Houston exchanged celebratory daps as they walked off the floor. Fat Joe hugged almost everyone he passed. Ben Stiller and Timothee Chalamet embraced so tightly that. for a moment. it looked as if they might fall to the floor.

And then there was Walt Frazier.

The Knicks legend stood off to the side in an orange-and-blue-checkered jacket and a paisley pocket square, soaking it all in. He has watched this story before in his own way—living it as the immortal point guard on the Knicks teams of 1970 and 1973, the only two times New York has won NBA titles.

Knicks fans have been waiting 53 years to hang another championship banner at Madison Square Garden. After seeing how New York closed out a tense, late-game swing in San Antonio, Frazier’s answer was immediate.

“It’s destiny,” Frazier told me.

He pointed to a sequence of outcomes that set the Knicks up for the matchup they wanted. “At the end of the season, we feared Detroit and Boston and they fell out. We didn’t want OKC and they fell out. We got the guys we wanted because of their lack of experience. You saw that tonight. They had us on the ropes, but they didn’t know how to finish it.”.

The question now isn’t whether New York can win games. It’s how quickly it can end the series.

With the next two games at Madison Square Garden, the possibility of a sweep of San Antonio is suddenly real. The Knicks have swept their previous two opponents—Philadelphia and Cleveland.

Frazier also anchored Friday’s win to a short list of teams that have started the Finals this way. The Knicks join the 1992 Chicago Bulls and the 1995 Houston Rockets as the only teams to win the first two games of the NBA Finals on the road. New York has also won 13 playoff games in a row.

If the Knicks win two more, they would tie the 2017 Golden State team for the longest winning streak in the playoffs.

There’s another piece of Knicks history that hits differently for someone who played for the franchise when expectations carried a heavier weight. Only one other Knicks team ever had a two-game lead in the NBA Finals—Frazier’s own 1972-73 group. That team finished the season with 57 wins. jumped out to a 2-1 lead against Wilt Chamberlain’s Lakers. and ultimately won the series 4-1.

Frazier pointed back to that era, too—specifically to a lineup distinction that still feels almost mythical. The Knicks’ starting lineup from 1972-73—Frazier. Earl Monroe. Bill Bradley. Dave DeBusschere and Willis Reed—remains the only starting lineup in NBA history in which every player is a member of the Hall of Fame.

Watching this year’s Knicks, he says, sparks the same kind of recognition.

“The feeling I get watching how connected this Knicks team has become in the playoffs reminds me of those championship teams I played on,” Frazier said.

Then he made his case the way only someone who lived those seasons can: by naming the common thread. “Frazier, Bradley, DeBusschere, Reed. It’s the same thing,” he said, listing the four starters who were on both championship teams. “That togetherness is really core. This year, we’ve been a 10-man team. Guys are stepping up . . . All these guys have been very productive.”.

That togetherness showed up in the final minutes of Game 2, when the Spurs refused to fold.

The Knicks didn’t panic when San Antonio went on a 14-0 run to tie the score at 97 with 2:59 left. Jalen Brunson. who struggled much of the night while being harassed by San Antonio’s defense. finally broke through with a tough fadeaway jumper to tie it at 104. He then made his presence felt again on defense. recording his fifth steal of the game on Wembanyama’s brain cramp with 9.5 seconds left.

OG Anunoby followed with three big free throws after a critical challenge by Knicks coach Mike Brown. Mitchell Robinson then closed out the last possession with tight defense on Wembanyama, and the potential game-winner clanged off the back of the rim.

After the win, Brown framed it in terms that sounded less like strategy and more like mental toughness.

“It’s an amazing feeling as a coach to know how mentally tough your team is no matter what the situation is in front of them. ” Brown said. “To see them continue to fight and fight and fight and fight. no matter what the score is. no matter how much time is on the clock. it’s just a fantastic feeling.

“The NBA is tough. You don’t experience what I’m experiencing with this group a ton, and it is a freaking joy to be around.”

The celebration after Friday’s win wasn’t just loud—it was sustained, like the kind of relief that comes when a team believes it can survive anything and then prove it, possession by possession, when it matters most.

And in Frazier’s view, that’s how destiny starts to look on a scoreboard.

Walt Frazier Knicks NBA Finals San Antonio Spurs Victor Wembanyama Jalen Brunson OG Anunoby Mike Brown Mitchell Robinson Frost Bank Center