The French basketball sensation received blessings from nuns before tip-off, drew the biggest cheers during player introductions, and appeared to relish his inaugural NBA Finals experience in San Antonio.
That enjoyment quickly faded as the final buzzer sounded.
Victor Wembanyama put up 26 points in his championship series debut, but had to battle for every basket — connecting on only 6 of his 21 field goal attempts, with some shots even bouncing off the top of the backboard while facing constant pressure from New York’s defense. Most disappointing for the league’s top defensive player was watching the Knicks close out the contest with an 11-0 scoring run to capture a 105-95 road win and seize home-court advantage.
“I was bad tonight,” Wembanyama stated. “It’s not more complicated than that.”
His response came across as composed and straightforward, without any hint of alarm. San Antonio dropped one contest. The championship series continues. He remains unfazed for now.
“I would say that he definitely holds himself accountable,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson commented. “I expect he’ll learn a lot of things from tonight’s game and come out with a good approach in Game 2.”
Both Wembanyama and San Antonio have experience bouncing back from early setbacks. They surrendered home-court advantage to Portland in the opening round before claiming the series’ final three contests, lost their home edge again to Minnesota after dropping the second round opener, and entered the Western Conference finals without home-court advantage against Oklahoma City — a series where the Spurs fell behind 2-1 and 3-2 before ultimately advancing.
However, they now face a Knicks squad that hasn’t tasted defeat since April. With June now here, New York has won 12 straight games, and San Antonio must now capture four of the remaining six contests to claim the championship.
“Obviously, we’ve been down in a series before,” Wembanyama noted. “Never in the finals, obviously. But I’m not kicking myself about anything really. I’m not worried the slightest.”
There’s no doubt about his ability to rebound from this performance, or whether the championship stage pressure affects him. Since joining the NBA three seasons ago, Wembanyama has managed every challenge thrown his way — including last year’s health scare when deep vein thrombosis ended his season prematurely — with apparent composure.
Defeating the Knicks will prove challenging. However, expecting Wembanyama to deliver an improved performance in Friday’s Game 2 seems reasonable.
“Players come along every once in a while that, in addition to having this incredible skill, love the promotional side of it and want to play that role for the league,” Commissioner Adam Silver remarked about Wembanyama before the contest. “We saw the role he played at All-Star, even leading the other young players, saying, let’s take this seriously, this really matters.”
Dating back to when the NBA anticipated Wembanyama’s arrival, Silver has avoided setting specific expectations for him or the league. His reasoning remains clear: sufficient pressure already exists on Wembanyama’s shoulders. Silver has wisely chosen not to increase that burden.
“He came in highly touted. He was somebody who even before he came into the NBA was blowing up the internet in terms of his highlights,” Silver explained. “Did I have a specific expectation in terms of numbers of years it would take him to get to the finals? No. But I would say, just trying to be an objective observer, he’s ahead of any timeline that people had in mind.”
That assessment may hold true. He simply trails in the current series. Friday’s challenge will be significant.
“We’re all confident,” Spurs guard Dylan Harper expressed. “I feel like that is kind of who he is. He never backs down from the moment. He always kind of steps up and meets it.”
