As the final seconds of 2025 ticked away, the San Antonio Spurs delivered a finish worthy of New Year\u2019s Eve, rallying from a 19-point deficit to stun the New York Knicks 134\u2013132 on Wednesday night at Frost Bank Center. Using a relentless second-half surge and solid execution in the final minutes, the Spurs fought back in a game that seemed to be slipping away and closed the year with one of their most thrilling wins of the season.<\/p>\n
New York controlled much of the night, building a comfortable lead behind Jalen Brunson\u2019s 29-point night as well as a balanced offensive attack. They pushed the pace early and took advantage of San Antonio turnovers, entering halftime with momentum and extending the advantage into the third quarter.<\/p>\n
Victor Wembanyama kept the Spurs within striking distance, pouring in 31 points and 13 rebounds through three quarters. But the night took a tense turn early in the fourth when Wembanyama exited after landing awkwardly on his left leg, leaving San Antonio without its star for the final stretch. However, instead of fading, the Spurs surged.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought we were not very good for a lot of stretches,\u201d Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson said. \u201cThe competitive response and the energy we were putting as the game went on into the right areas, we felt it. That team [Knicks] is very physical and competitive. If you don\u2019t match that along with sharp execution, they can systematically wear you down at times…. I was extremely proud of the guys that stepped up tonight, especially that group in the fourth quarter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Julian Champagnie was huge reason for the win, erupting for a career night and finishing with 36 points and making a franchise record 11 three-pointers. De\u2019Aaron Fox added 26 points and seven assists, spearheading a furious comeback. San Antonio tightened defensively, forced New York into mistakes, and steadily chipped away as the crowd sensed a late-night rally brewing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just keep shooting the basketball,\u201d a smiling Champagnie told reporters after the game. \u201cBasketball gods, that\u2019s what Coach Pop always said. Coming into the game, I told myself to chill and shoot the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Spurs finally pulled even in the closing minutes before taking the lead in a frantic final moments of the game. A key offensive rebound and putback by Luke Kornet swung momentum, and Keldon Johnson delivered under pressure, knocking down two critical free throws after drawing a loose-ball foul. That play resulted in Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns fouling out, removing a key paint presence in crunch time.<\/p>\n
New York had one last chance to spoil the celebration, but San Antonio held on as the buzzer sounded, setting off a roar that felt as much like a countdown to the new year as a victory.<\/p>\n
Johnson finished with 19 points and eight rebounds, providing steady production throughout, while the Spurs\u2019 resilience defined the night more than any single stat. As fans headed toward their New Year\u2019s Eve celebrations and the clock approaching midnight, the Spurs closed the calendar year with a statement \u2014 a reminder that no lead is safe and that sometimes the best way to welcome a new year is with a comeback worth remembering.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis wasn\u2019t a game that was given to us. We had to go get it,\u201d Wembanyama said. \u201cJulian was amazing. To see the energy from Keldon at the end and to see the fans behind us, it was pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
During a timeout, the H-E-B Beach Ball Drop contestant had three balls go through his hands and fell down three times. As someone who has played this exact game (there\u2019s a video somewhere on YouTube), this is really tough! Props to him on winning $100.ESPN\u2019s Shams Charania confirmed Wembanyama suffered a \u201ca slight hyperextension in his left knee\u201d and avoided major injury. That is very good news for Spurs fans, who feared the worst. Wemby himself also said he didn\u2019t expect to miss time (not that it\u2019s entirely up to him).Luke Kornet had seven points, four assists and nine rebounds on the night. He is continues to show how he is the best backup big man in the league and he seemlessly has fit into this Spurs system.Harrison Barnes\u2019 struggles continued on Wedensday, but he did have a better night than Monday. He finished with seven points, six rebounds, and four assists. Let\u2019s hope 2026 brings Harrison getting out of his funk!Coach Johnson said the team is still awaiting additional tests on Devin Vassell\u2019s groin strain but he\u2019ll be out \u201cmore than a game or two.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the final seconds of 2025 ticked away, the San Antonio Spurs delivered a finish worthy of New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3797],"tags":[7,6,969,474,4075,4074,534,52387],"class_list":{"0":"post-509199","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio-spurs","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-san-antonio","11":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","12":"tag-sanantonio","13":"tag-sanantoniospurs","14":"tag-spurs","15":"tag-spurs-game-recaps"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115818179074111326","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}