Everything Wemby Said About Spurs’ Belief In NBA Finals Comeback vs. Knicks, Being Targeted by Fans
San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama spoke with reporters on Friday, one day before his team hosts Game 5 of the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks.
The Spurs are coming off a crushing 107-106 road loss to the Knicks in Game 4, in which San Antonio held a 29-point (81-52) third quarter lead before it slipped away.
That said, Wembanyama’s confidence isn’t shaken.
“Everybody knows we’re gonna do it,” Wembanyama said of the Spurs’ internal belief in mounting a comeback in the face of a 3-1 series deficit. “I think it’d be a mistake to waste our energy on multiple games. It’s one game at a time.”
After Game 4, while walking from the team bus to the team hotel in New York, at least one fan appeared to thrown an egg at Wembanyama. One of them hit the big man.
“I really didn’t think much of it,” Wembanyama said. “I just saw that one video of the eggs, I didn’t really see any other one. But it’s OK, I don’t dislike it. Obviously, it’s not good at all, but it doesn’t bother me.”
The Spurs are back in town for Game 5, which is set for 8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday. Knicks fans traveled well to San Antonio for the first two games of the series, both won by New York.
When asked about Knicks fans’ potential presence in San Antonio for Game 5, Wembanyama said it’s “not a concern.”
Only one team in NBA Finals history—the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers—has come back from a 3-1 series deficit to win the title. The Spurs will now have to match that feat.
On the plus side, they can take solace in the fact that they have led in the final two minutes of every game. The problem is closing, of course, but San Antonio can obviously compete with the Knicks. San Antonio also is home for Game 7, if it’s necessary.
That being said, the Spurs’ issues late in games have become impossible to ignore, and one has to wonder if they’ll loom large should Game 5 come down to crunch time execution.
Led by Wembanyama, though, the Spurs have the talent to pull off a shocker. Saturday will have to be the first step.
