SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Following Friday night’s conclusion of Game 2 in the NBA Finals, Victor Wembanyama characterized his mental state in an uncommon manner.
“Very blurry,” Wembanyama stated.
However, the San Antonio Spurs’ predicament is crystal clear. They face significant difficulties. Major difficulties. Wembanyama directed the blame entirely toward himself.
San Antonio experienced both a remarkable rally and a catastrophic collapse within the same final period, losing to the New York Knicks 105-104 — following a conclusion that Wembanyama will likely remember for years to come. San Antonio trailed by 14 points at the midpoint of the fourth quarter, then mounted a 14-0 scoring surge to even the contest, subsequently taking a brief advantage when Wembanyama converted a three-point opportunity with less than 60 seconds remaining.
With approximately 14 seconds left and the game deadlocked, it became a matchup between elite talents: New York’s Jalen Brunson versus Wembanyama, the unanimous Defensive Player of the Year.
Brunson attempted a shot from roughly 16 feet away. The 7-foot-4 Wembanyama extended his arm upward, forcing the Knicks’ guard to add extra arc to clear the Frenchman’s elevated reach. The ball struck the back iron. Wembanyama secured the rebound. The crowd grew excited. He spotted Spurs teammate Stephon Castle and delivered a pass in his direction. The issue was that Castle wasn’t paying attention and the ball deflected off him. Brunson recovered possession and Wembanyama committed a foul.
“I need to have more poise,” Wembanyama stated. “More control over the game.”
Castle explained: “I was looking at him when he first got the rebound. I just started to take off to try to give him some space to dribble up the court. I didn’t see him throw it to me.”
The mistake was significant but not decisive. Brunson converted only one of two free throws, giving New York a single-point advantage. San Antonio requested a timeout. The final possession featured a pick-and-roll play, with De’Aaron Fox locating Wembanyama for a jump shot from essentially the identical position on San Antonio’s side of the court where Brunson had attempted his shot moments before.
“He’s made that shot a thousand times,” Castle commented. “He has a game-winner with that shot this year. Yeah, I’ll take that shot every day.”
However, the attempt was unsuccessful.
The contest concluded. New York players rushed onto the court in triumph. Wembanyama walked toward the far tunnel, questioning how everything went awry.
“I threw that one away. I messed up,” Wembanyama acknowledged. “We didn’t play great as a team. We needed to win that game. This game was ours. But at this point, it’s done. Am I going to regret it? Yes, of course. Am I going to use that to fuel me and to fuel us next game? Absolutely.”
San Antonio will require all available motivation moving forward. The Spurs are down 2-0 and will travel Saturday to New York for Game 3 on Monday and Game 4 on Wednesday. They must capture one of those contests to extend their season, and they’ll need to secure two victories at Madison Square Garden before the series concludes if they hope to claim the championship.
Historical precedent suggests this outcome is unlikely.
San Antonio established an early advantage and even employed the Hack-a-Mitch approach — deliberately fouling New York’s Mitchell Robinson, who posted the league’s worst free throw percentage (among players with at least 100 attempts) during the regular season and has performed even more poorly in the playoffs — during the opening quarter, attempting to disrupt New York’s offensive flow.
Even this tactic proved ineffective. Robinson had converted just one of his previous 10 free throws before Friday’s game; he made 3 of 6 attempts during the Hack-a-Mitch sequence in the first half, which likely felt like bonus scoring for New York.
Those three points proved valuable at night’s end. Robinson was also the defender who contested Wembanyama’s final attempt, an ironic development in the view of Knicks coach Mike Brown.
“It started with Mitch and it ended with the other four guys boxing out,” Brown commented. “So just a heck of a job by Mitch guarding the most iconic player in the world.”
While Wembanyama leads all scorers in these finals, his performance hasn’t been commanding. He’s posting 27.5 points per game while shooting just 41%. From beyond the arc, he’s connected on 4 of 15 attempts, or 27%. Though he’s recorded seven blocks, New York hasn’t hesitated to attack him directly. He managed a sluggish opening half Friday evening, attempting only four shots in the first two periods.
Monday will demand more. San Antonio’s top performer must establish himself as the court’s premier player if the Spurs hope to re-enter this series.
This reality is unmistakable.
“We don’t feel like we played well or up to our standard at least in the last two games,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson stated. “New York has played very well and they’re a part of that. But we’re going to go into Game 3 (and) if we play our brand of basketball up to our standard, we’ll be just fine.”
