NBA FINALS: KNICKS VS. SPURS

June 5, 2026

Mitch Johnson

San Antonio Spurs

Game 2: Postgame

Knicks 105, Spurs 104

Q. That was a great look by Wemby. Did you think it was in? Take us through the final play.

MITCH JOHNSON: Just put Fox and Victor in a pick-and-roll. Fox made a good pass to him. Caught it with some space. Took a good shot.

Q. What did you see from your team when you made that 14-0 run to tie things up? Anything you can carry into Games 3 and 4?

MITCH JOHNSON: Yeah, we showed tremendous desperation, urgency and competitive response, which hopefully we can try to bottle that up where we don't have to be down that many points to try to play with that same level of those aspects.

Q. Was there a point late in the fourth quarter when Steph was unavailable? Was he injured at all?

MITCH JOHNSON: Right when he went out, I'm not sure. I know when I checked on him with the training staff, he was available. I don't believe he was. Again, I didn't check immediately after.

Q. The team had a crazy comeback. Before it seemed like physically it was hard for the team. Did you see the players tired? What was the main issues before the comeback?

MITCH JOHNSON: I'm sorry, what was the main issues for the comeback?

Q. Before the comeback that explained you were down 14.

MITCH JOHNSON: We just weren't playing good enough. We weren't consistent enough in our execution of a lot of phases of the game.

A little bit more detail, I guess. Felt like we chased the game time a little bit. They made some really tough shots, shots at the end of the shot clock. I thought that affected our approaching times and took away from just trying to play our brand of basketball.

Q. Two games Karl-Anthony has gotten anything he's wanted. What are the challenges of guarding him? Do you see specifically his size being an advantage for them?

MITCH JOHNSON: I think he's made some shots and he's a really good player. I don't think he's gotten everything he wanted. He played two good games. We have to make it tougher on him. We've had some coverage breakdowns. Just keep trying to make great players work for everything they get.

Q. Tough game from Steph offensively. What would you like to see him do better, what do you think he's doing wrong?

MITCH JOHNSON: I think he probably just got caught up in the air a few times trying to make some decisions. They do a great job of multiple efforts, getting back out after they show a crowd. Sometimes it's an early pass, a pass to your teammates to let that guy make a play. If you get caught with one extra dribble or up in the air, they do a really good job of recovery.

Q. Why was it so difficult for Wemby to get involved offensively in the first half? What changed in the second half?

MITCH JOHNSON: Yeah, I think, again, we've had that discussion before. I understand the discourse around it.

I think it's a little bit of all of it. I have to make sure there's environments that the ball finds him. I think he's got to make sure that he can't rely on that to get shots, as well. There are times I think when he was open on rolls or around the paint, and his teammates got to give him the ball. I think it's a combination of all that.

But yeah, four shots in a half on this stage is not acceptable.

Q. You guys obviously have a bunch of guys that have not been on this stage before. How do you forecast how the next 48 hours will go trying to summon something after getting their heart ripped out at the end?

MITCH JOHNSON: We don't feel like we played well or up to our standard at least in the last two games. New York has played very well and they're a part of that.

But we're going to go into Game 3, if we play our brand of basketball up to our standard, we'll be just fine.

Q. Keldon really had a hard time getting anything going. What can you do to get him going?

MITCH JOHNSON: Got to keep putting energy into the right stuff. He's got to crash, play with physicality, play hard. At this stage of the game, which is whatever it takes. We can't get preoccupied and chase, whether it's individual or collective things. We have to go on whatever the game calls for in that possession and give it all.