SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Victor Wembanyama described himself in a rather unusual way when Game 2 of the NBA Finals was over on Friday night.
“Very blurry,” Wembanyama said.
The San Antonio Spurs’ situation, though, is very clear. They’re in trouble. Big trouble. And Wembanyama pointed the finger of blame squarely at himself.
The Spurs had an epic comeback and an epic disaster in the same fourth quarter, falling to the New York Knicks 105-104 — after a finish that Wembanyama likely won’t be able to forget anytime soon. The Spurs were down by 14 midway through the final quarter, went on a 14-0 run to tie the game, then briefly took the lead when Wembanyama had a three-point play with just under a minute left.
The score was tied with about 14 seconds remaining and it was best vs. best, the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson against the unanimous Defensive Player of the Year in Wembanyama.
Brunson wanted to take a jumper from about 16 feet. The 7-foot-4 Wembanyama got an arm up, causing the Knicks’ guard to put a little too much on the shot just to get it over the Frenchman’s sky-high hand. It hit the back of the rim. Wembanyama got the rebound. The arena was buzzing. He saw Spurs teammate Stephon Castle and sent a pass his way. Problem was, Castle wasn’t looking and it bounced off him. Brunson wound up with the ball and Wembanyama fouled him.
“I need to have more poise,” Wembanyama said. “More control over the game.”
Said Castle: “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.”
It was a bad play. It wasn’t fatal. Brunson missed one of the two free throws and the Knicks led by one. The Spurs called time. The last play was a pick-and-roll, De’Aaron Fox finding Wembanyama for a jumper from basically the same spot on the Spurs’ end of the floor as Brunson tried at the other end moments earlier.
“He’s made that shot a thousand times,” Castle said. “He has a game-winner with that shot this year. Yeah, I’ll take that shot every day.”
But it missed.
Game over. The Knicks stormed the floor in celebration. Wembanyama headed to the opposite tunnel, wondering how it went so wrong.
“I threw that one away. I messed up,” Wembanyama said. “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.”
They’ll need all the fuel they can get right now. The Spurs trail 2-0 and will fly Saturday to New York for Game 3 on Monday and Game 4 on Wednesday. They need to win one of those to keep the season alive, and they’ll have to win twice at Madison Square Garden before this series ends if they’re going to win the title.
History says that won’t happen.
The Spurs jumped out to a quick lead and even resorted to the Hack-a-Mitch strategy — intentionally fouling the Knicks’ Mitchell Robinson, who was the worst free throw shooter in the NBA (among those with at least 100 tries) in the regular season and has been even worse in the playoffs — in the first quarter, looking to disrupt New York’s offensive rhythm.
And even that didn’t really work. Robinson had missed nine of his last 10 free throws entering Friday; he went 3 for 6 from the line in the Hack-a-Mitch portion of the first half, which probably felt like bonus points for New York.
Those three points came in handy at the end of the night. And Robinson was the one who got a hand near Wembanyama on the Spurs’ star’s final shot, a neat twist in the eyes of Knicks coach Mike Brown.
“It started with Mitch and it ended with the other four guys boxing out,” Brown said. “So just a heck of a job by Mitch guarding the most iconic player in the world.”
Wembanyama is the leading scorer in these finals, but he hasn’t been dominant. He’s averaging 27.5 points, though shooting only 41%. From 3-point range, he’s 4 for 15, or 27%. And he does have seven blocks, but the Knicks haven’t been afraid to go right at him, either. He had a very slow first half Friday night, taking only four shots in the opening two quarters.
That won’t be enough Monday. The Spurs’ best player needs to be the best player on the floor if San Antonio is going to get back into this series.
There’s nothing blurry about that.
“We don’t feel like we played well or up to our standard at least in the last two games,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “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.”
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