Wembanyama unfazed – Victor Wembanyama brushed off the Spurs’ 105-95 Game 1 loss to the Knicks on June 3, saying he wasn’t “kicking [himself]” and insisting San Antonio can still get better quickly after blowing an eight-point fourth-quarter lead. With 26 points on a 6-of-21 shoot
Victor Wembanyama sat at the podium on Wednesday, June 3, after the Spurs’ first NBA Finals game ended with New York taking a 105-95 win—and he didn’t look like a player carrying the weight of a collapse.
San Antonio had led by eight points in the fourth quarter. Instead, it unraveled into a 10-point loss and, with it, home-court advantage slipping away. Wembanyama’s face stayed composed when asked whether he was kicking himself over anything.
“Nothing,” Wembanyama said after the game. “We’ve been down in a series before. Never in the Finals, obviously, but I’m not kicking myself about anything, really. I’m not worried in the slightest.”
It sounded like conviction. But it also landed differently because this was his first career NBA Finals game—an achievement that, when he realized it just four days prior, had brought him to tears. Now, four days after those tears, the emotion at the podium wasn’t uncertainty. It was poise.
Wembanyama finished with 26 points, yet the night came with hard edges. He shot just 6-of-21 from the field and committed six turnovers. When the game tightened late. his attempts to push the action down the stretch didn’t find rhythm; Knicks centers Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson clamped down on him on defense. forcing Wembanyama into hurried choices.
“I was bad tonight,” Wembanyama said. “It’s not more complicated than that.”
On the bigger ledger, the Spurs’ Game 1 result looked like more than a rough night. Historically, teams that lose Game 1 of the Finals have gone on to lose the series 69.6% of the time, going 24-55. Still, Wembanyama’s response suggested he wasn’t treating the deficit as fate.
The game story also showed why his calm mattered. Wembanyama tried to set the tone early. heavily involved in San Antonio’s actions in the first minutes and appearing intent on establishing urgency. But New York answered with physicality—leaning on the extra heft Towns and Robinson bring—and they put their hands on him and body him every time he tried to establish position in the paint.
As the possession pattern repeated, Wembanyama backed out of the paint and settled for outside shots. He’d convert just four field goals in the paint, and late, when New York carried a lead midway through the fourth, his shots looked wild and off-target.
For the Spurs, the breakdown wasn’t confined to offense. The Knicks grabbed timely offensive rebounds that translated into second-chance points. That mattered because the Knicks led on second-chance production. 23-14. and those extra possessions helped swing momentum at the exact moment San Antonio needed control.
Near the end, San Antonio also made mistakes that the Knicks could punish immediately. Inside the final minute of the game, the Spurs committed a pair of turnovers.
That’s why Wembanyama said, of Game 1, that he thought the Spurs “let that one go.”
But his message didn’t stop at self-criticism. Wembanyama framed the fix in terms of execution and sticking to what San Antonio knows how to do.
“It’s almost not like I have anything to figure out,” Wembanyama said. “It’s almost like I have to play normal – not even good. It’s, like, just 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.”.
San Antonio’s coach, Mitch Johnson, pointed to similar themes when asked about the early look at Wembanyama’s shooting.
“It felt like he missed a few shots early,” Johnson said. “We 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.”.
Game 2 will test whether Wembanyama’s calm is only the kind that shows up after a tough loss—or the kind that comes from adjusting quickly.
The immediate question is simple: can the Spurs change what New York disrupted?. Wembanyama has the kind of game that can force defenses to react. and with Towns—prone to foul trouble—sitting in the way at the rim. the Spurs have a logical path: the next step is to attack him aggressively and repeatedly.
As for the broader stakes, the Knicks’ win fits a larger playoff picture, too. New York entered the Finals having won 12 consecutive playoff games in historic fashion.
Wembanyama, for his part, isn’t portraying Game 1 as the beginning of a collapse. After 105-95, he’s describing it as something the Spurs can shake off—one where the next possession, and the next adjustment, will matter more than what happened on the scoreboard Wednesday night.
Victor Wembanyama Spurs Knicks NBA Finals Game 1 June 3 Karl-Anthony Towns Mitchell Robinson Mitch Johnson basketball news
He “wasn’t worried” but then he had 6 turnovers… sure.
I mean Knicks really locked him up in the 4th, right? But 6-of-21 is brutal. I’m not saying Spurs are done, just seems like every time it matters the offense turns into a disaster.
Isn’t it funny how he said he realized it was his first Finals game like 4 days ago and cried. Then he comes back and gets 26 points lol like feelings don’t matter? Also 8-point lead blowing sounds like coaching to me.
Not gonna lie, I don’t really care what he says at the podium. Losing home court after leading is the kind of thing that haunts you. If Towns and Robinson “clamped down” that hard, that’s not just a bad shooting night, that’s a matchup thing. Hopefully Pop doesn’t panic in Game 2… but knowing sports, he probably will.