SAN ANTONIO — Wemby isn’t worried, or so he claims.
Never mind that the New York Knicks came into the San Antonio Spurs’ home and stole Game 1 of the NBA Finals 105-95. Or that the Spurs’ transcendent young star spent most of the evening looking out of sorts against the Knicks’ size while missing 15 of his 21 shot attempts (including seven of nine 3s).
When the 22-year-old Victor Wembanyama was asked to assess the deeper meaning of it all afterward, he succinctly insisted in his postgame news conference that there was no concern creeping in.
“I’m going to figure it out …”
“I think we let that one go …”
“I’m not kicking myself about anything, really. … I’m not worried (in) the slightest.”
Even if he should be.
While Wembanyama finished with another one of his fully packed, playoff stat lines — 26 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks — this performance (which also included six turnovers) served as further proof that the Knicks have the sort of roster that it takes to slow his unparalleled size and skill.
As was the case in the Knicks’ win over the Spurs in the NBA Cup title game on Dec. 16, when the trio of Karl-Anthony Towns (7-foot, 248 pounds), OG Anunoby (6-7, 240) and Mitchell Robinson (7-0, 240) contained Wembanyama (7-4, 236) so well that he finished at minus-18, New York looked like one of the few teams in the league equipped to handle this unique challenge.
Entering this series, the Knicks often pointed to that game as a blueprint they planned to use en route to the franchise’s first title since 1973. However, the Spurs were quick to point out that they had evolved and matured significantly in the ensuing six months. That is most certainly true, but the fact remains that Wembanyama wasn’t himself against the Knicks — again.
“I was bad tonight,” Wembanyama said plainly. “It’s not more complicated than that.”
If only he had played with the kind of fervor he showed with the game slipping away late in the fourth.
With 3 minutes, 24 seconds remaining and the Spurs down four, Wembanyama faced single coverage against Towns on the left wing. He wasted no time going to work, planting his right shoulder into Towns’ chest as he drove into the paint, then finishing the layup through the foul as the Knicks big man hit the floor and slid some 10 feet out of bounds behind the baseline.
Towns, who had 18 points on 7-of-15 shooting, 12 rebounds, four assists, two turnovers and was plus-14, stayed down for several seconds while holding his chest before eventually getting up.
The issue for the Spurs, though, is that Wembanyama’s gritty three-point play was an outlier.
“Felt like he missed a few shots early,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “We’ve got to get him moving in space and toward the rim, whether that’s on rolls or running in transition. But we need the pressure on the rim and the force in the paint. They did a good job of obviously being physical and showing crowds. We need to do a better job of establishing that early on, for sure.”
This is the problem for the Spurs, though, in a matchup with the Knicks. As I wrote last month, when three front-office executives weighed in anonymously on the challenge of dealing with Wemby, the Knicks were noted as one of the few teams well-equipped to handle him.
The rest of the league will likely feel compelled to add even more big, agile defenders in the months to come, but it’s to New York’s advantage that its roster is already set just right.
Or so it would seem after the series opener.
“Just try to make it difficult,” Towns said of the approach against Wembanyama. “He’s an amazing player, one-of-a-kind player in this NBA that the league has ever seen, and you just try to make it as difficult as possible.”
The intriguing part now is that we’ll see in Game 2 on Friday how this neophyte will respond to his latest bout with adversity. Wembanyama has bounced back every time to this point in the postseason.
However, there is no Chet Holmgren to bully this time around, nor a foe like the Oklahoma City Thunder that was without several key players in the West finals. These Knicks are healthy, for the most part, with Jalen Brunson (30 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter) battling through ankle and knee ailments and Robinson able to help despite the pinkie finger injury he suffered before the series.
Wembanyama’s teammates didn’t meet the moment as they had against the Thunder, either, with De’Aaron Fox missing 10 of 13 shot attempts and Dylan Harper, who had a strong start, scoring just four of his 16 points in the second half. The Spurs hit just 11 of 43 3-pointers overall (25.6 percent).
Wembanyama might not be worried just yet, but there’s an argument to be made that he should be.
“I mean, it’s almost not like I have anything to figure out,” he said. “It’s almost like I have to play normal, not even good.
“Doing the right things is enough. When we play bad, when I play bad, is when we shoot ourselves in the foot. This is why I’m not worried. We’re going to be so much better. I’m going to be so much better.”
