NEW YORK – Victor Wembanyama’s dream run in his first NBA play-offs has taken a nightmarish turn, but the young San Antonio Spurs star says he is embracing the setbacks as well as the success. “I think the key is acceptance a lot of times, taking a step back, realising all the journey that’s behind this and what’s ahead of this,” Wembanyama said on June 7 as the Spurs prepared for a crucial Game 3 of the NBA Finals in what promises to be a
raucously hostile Madison Square Garden on June 8 (June 9, Singapore time). The 22-year-old Frenchman, in the play-offs for the first time in his third NBA season, was the driving force of the young Spurs’ unexpected run to the Finals. But Wembanyama has faltered in the face of an aggressive and well-planned Knicks defence, producing moments of brilliance but also devastating miscues, including a costly late turnover and missed final shot in the Spurs’ 105-104 Game 2 loss in San Antonio. That dropped the Spurs
into a 2-0 hole, leaving them trying to become the first team to rally to win the Finals after losing the first two games at home. “I think this is everything that I wished for,” Wembanyama said. “There’s really no reason to overthink it. This is what I’m built for.” The 2.24m French star has inspired a startling transformation in the Spurs fortunes in a remarkably short period of time. After winning just 22 games in Wembanyama’s first season, and 34 games last term, San
Antonio roared into title contention this season with a dazzling 62-win campaign. They followed that up with a superb march through the play-offs, culminating in an against-the-odds seven-game win over defending champions the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference finals. But they squandered a 14-point second half lead in a Game 1 loss to the Knicks, and their furious fourth-quarter rally in Game 2 was undone by late mistakes. “We need to capitalise, actually use all the efforts we did,” Wembanyama said. “It felt
like we did a lot, we did a lot of things wrong, but we also were relentless and kept pushing, but kind of like wasted that effort.” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said much the same. “If there’s a thematic thing, the biggest thing is we’ve put in some good, hard work at times, and have not taken advantage of that hard work,” Johnson said. “That’s been partially some undisciplined things of us, partially also New York has stepped up and made some plays at the
end of clock and finished out possessions.” Now, Johnson said, it is imperative the Spurs avoid falling into a 3-0 hole – something no NBA team has come back from to win a play-off series. “We’ve got one game (on June 8 at) night at 8.30pm in Madison Square Garden,” Johnson said. “It’s the only game that matters. We’ve got to come in here ready to win it.” Wembanyama is ready to produce his maximum effort for as long as he can. “The challenge been
mostly about will, the will to do it,” he said. “I feel like I’ll take a breather at the end of the season.” AFP
Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs, NBA Finals, Madison Square Garden, New York Knicks, Game 3, Mitch Johnson, Oklahoma City Thunder