NEW YORK — Victor Wembanyama sat on the floor of Madison Square Garden clapping emphatically. A deriding applause for Mitchell Robinson, who’d been aptly rage-baited into an emotional response.
It’s not enough that he’s a 7-foot-4 center with the skills of a small forward and the defensive acumen of Hakeem Olajuwon. He’s also proving to be devious out there. And he’s playing chess against the Knicks.
Who knows when the verbal jousting started, but late in the first quarter Wembanyama dribbled against Robinson at the top. Robinson pressed up on the Spurs star aggressively, presumably to intimidate. But Wembanyama took him to school. He crossed over, drove to the right, faked a spin back left — losing Robinson — and scooped in a right-handed layup off the glass.
And then Wembanyama immediately turned his attention toward Robinson. He shot the Knicks big man a taunting smile as they headed back down court.
Robinson responded with a shove that included a forearm to Wembanyama’s neck. The crowd cheered initially, then got even louder when seeing the replay. No doubt, Knicks fans believed Wembanyama had it coming, especially after his forceful shove to Brunson’s back in Game 2. No call was made, which drew the ire of everyone from James Dolan to Mike Brown to President Donald Trump.
Draymond Green and Charles Barkley called for a retaliation on Wemby for bullying Brunson.
“If I’m the Knicks,” Barkley said on the Dan Patrick’s show, “early in the game, I knock the hell out of Victor.”
So the blood-thirsty Knicks fans loved Wemby getting clocked.
So did Wemby. After clapping, he pointed at his head. He was either imploring Robinson to be smarter or bragging about how he used his mind to defeat Robinson. Same point.
Perhaps he decided to turn it up after his mental gaffe at the end of Game 2. But judging by his calm in Game 3 and his baiting of the Knicks in the first half, it seems he’s pulling out the stops in a pursuit of a championship.
Robinson earned a flagrant foul penalty one, perhaps because the officials knew a penalty two and ejection would’ve started a riot in the Garden. After Wembanyama made both ensuing free throws, Devin Vassell followed with a baseline jumper.
A four-point possession. Because this ain’t checkers.
The Knicks have made it a point, like most teams, to be physical with Wembanyama. But the alien appears to be winning that battle. He’s both pushing back — even on Jalen Brunson — and also falling to sell the contact. He’s become more aggressive driving against the Knicks pressure defense and more calculated about using the Knicks’ aggression against them.
It paid significant dividends in the first half. It also turned up the vitriol spewed at him by the Knicks fans as the Spurs dominated New York for much of the first half.
On another possession, Jose Alvarado nearly picked up a flagrant foul. He wound up defending Wembanyama at the post. He used all his might to fight against Wembanyama, who pulled the chair on Alvarado and caused him to fall. Alvarado got up and delivered a shot back to Wembanyama, hitting him near the groin. It was reviewed and deemed a common foul. But it was the kind of retaliation Wembanyama is sparking.
He’s talking to the Knicks out there, sometimes slyly, sometimes openly. He’s smiling while cooking their big men. And he’s now baiting them into losing their cool. The Knicks came unraveled in the first half, trailing 76-49 after 24 minutes.
Wu-Tang performed at halftime with their Shaolin style. But the crowd was too stunned to turn up because the Shaolin student was torching their Knicks.
Of course, it helped him and his teammates barely missed. But Wembanyama is taking great delight in subduing the Knicks crowd and rendering moot whatever homecourt advantage New York allegedly possessed. Through six quarters, Wemby has “sonned” the Knicks and made the Garden his pedestal.
In the third quarter, Wembanyama picked up a flagrant foul after elbowing Karl-Anthony Towns in the chin. While Towns was down. Wemby walked over and patted him a couple of times on the back.
It looked to be inadvertent and the Spurs star was declaring as much. But it certainly didn’t help his approval rating in the building.
It must be said: Wembanyama is now bait-worthy. After his elbow of Towns, he has three flagrant fouls. One more and he’ll be suspended for a game. A decade ago, Draymond Green was suspended for Game 5 after his fourth flagrant foul point and it changed the series. The Warriors went on to blow a 3-1 series lead.
It might be worth it for the Knicks try and turn the tables.
Either way, Wembanyama has been rather effective in the black hat.
