San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson was thrilled with the strides his team made to pull a game back in the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks.

Victor Wembanyama, who shouldered the blame for the Spurs' Game 2 loss after a late mistake, led their charge on Monday, helping them to a 115-111 win.

Wembanyama got 32 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three blocks, while shooting 11-of-18 from the field as he helped San Antonio pull back to 2-1 in the series.

The Frenchman is only the second Spurs player to score 25 points or more in three consecutive Finals games, after Tim Duncan.

Six Spurs players hit double figures, with Stephon Castle their next highest scorer with 23 points, five rebounds and five assists.

San Antonio held a double-digit lead in the first quarter for the third straight game, but unlike in the other two, this time, they held out for a win.

"We made some strides in terms of the ball movement and playing with our team-mates, setting screens, trusting the basketball would find the right guy for our shot," Johnson said.

"We showed better poise at times. We finished the game still with some things that need improvement, but stronger than we did the last few games.

"We were in attack mode, but also as a collective group, it showed itself in terms of something would happen, whether it was an initial action or a guy trying to get to the paint.

"If they didn't have a clear advantage, they were looking for their team-mates. Because we were doing that throughout the night, it was much clearer for team-mates to expect where the ball was going and when it was going to get to them, and then what to do with it when it got to them."

Team W! pic.twitter.com/jUGwlk4lBQ

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) June 9, 2026

As for the Knicks, they saw their 13-game winning streak in the playoffs halted by this result and remain in search of their first Finals win at Madison Square Garden since 1999.

Jalen Brunson led New York with 32 points on 11-of-25 shooting (44%), but head coach Mike Brown was not impressed with his team's stats, which showed the Spurs taking three times as many free throws in the second half.

"There are some controllables that we did not do a good job of doing," Brown said.

"We allowed them to hit first at the beginning of the game. We allowed them to hit first in the beginning of the second half.

"We turned the ball over, and we were stagnant offensively, and we allowed them to get to the paint, and we did not pay attention to detail to what we are supposed to do defensively."