San Antonio's first NBA Finals in 27 years is one loss old, and on ESPN's Get Up the message to the Spurs was blunt: Game 2 is a must-win.
The Spurs dropped the opener at home to the New York Knicks and now face the prospect of traveling to Madison Square Garden for Game 3 down 0-2 — a scenario the Get Up panel agreed San Antonio cannot allow.
"In any final series, you go down 0-1, you're going to have to win Game 2," ESPN's Brian Windhorst said. He described leaving the arena to find Knicks fans who refused to go home, his mind already racing ahead to the Garden.
"The Spurs do not want to walk into that environment facing a dire situation," Windhorst said. "I don't think the adjustments they're going to have to make are going to be sweeping, but they are definitely going to feel some pressure."
Windhorst's read came with a caveat born of San Antonio's playoff run. This is a team that survived multiple elimination games on its way to the Finals, including a Game 7 against Oklahoma City.
"The Spurs have felt pressure several times in this postseason, and they have faced elimination several times in this postseason, and they have always responded," Windhorst said. "We should expect a strong response from the Spurs."
A fellow analyst on the panel was even more emphatic about the stakes — and the fixes.
"You better win Game 2, because if you don't, you are facing a tidal wave going down to Madison Square Garden for Game 3," he said.
But like Windhorst, he argued the corrections are surgical rather than structural. He pointed to San Antonio's defensive assignments on Jalen Brunson, who repeatedly punished the Spurs by hunting favorable switches in Game 1.
"The adjustments can be minute. It can be something as simple as Stephon Castle spending all his time on Jalen Brunson," he said. "They gave up so many easy switches. That cannot be the case anymore. I know the NBA is a switch league — you give up the easy switches — but put Stephon Castle on him."
He also called for more of rookie guard Dylan Harper, whose athleticism troubled New York whenever he was on the floor.
"Have more Dylan Harper on the floor," he said. "That athleticism had the Knicks in prison for large parts of the game."
The optimistic thread running through the segment was Wembanyama himself. Both analysts expected the Spurs star — held in check in Game 1 — to bounce back, which is partly why they cautioned San Antonio against overreacting.
"Victor's going to play better, so you don't want to panic," the analyst said. "But this is a dire situation if you do not win Game 2."
For the Spurs, the path is clear if narrow: tighten the matchups on Brunson, lean into Harper's athleticism, trust that Wembanyama rediscovers his rhythm — and avoid handing the Knicks a 2-0 lead to carry into the loudest building in basketball.