History is merciless toward San Antonio, and Victor Wembanyama knows it. After two lost games on home court in the NBA Finals, the Spurs find themselves in a spot no one has yet come back from - no team in NBA Finals history has lost the first two games at home and then lifted the championship ring.

The Spurs had home-court advantage and brutally squandered it. The New York Knicks dominated both games in San Antonio and led 2-0, and now the series moves to New York, where a fired-up team wants to finish the job in front of its frenzied crowd. The pressure on San Antonio could not be greater.

Before the Spurs, only two teams in league history lost both the first and second game of the Finals at home: the Phoenix Suns in the 1992-93 season and the Orlando Magic in 1994-95. Both endings are well known. Charles Barkley and the Suns fought back and forced a sixth game on their court, but Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls still triumphed for the first of their three consecutive titles in the nineties.

For the Magic it was even crueler - Shaquille O'Neal and his team were swept, and the Houston Rockets with Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler closed out their second consecutive title. Thirty-one years later, Wembanyama stands before the same math.

Whether the young Frenchman will share the fate of those before him or defy the statistics and write history - the next games will show. One thing is certain: the numbers are against him, and the numbers in the NBA Finals rarely lie. But that's exactly why the games exist - for those who don't read the tables.