New York (AFP) – Victor Wembanyama’s dream run in his first NBA playoffs has taken a nightmarish turn, but the young San Antonio Spurs star says he’s embracing the setbacks as well as the success. “I think the key is acceptance a lot of times, taking a step back, realizing all the journey that’s behind this and what’s ahead of this,” Wembanyama said Sunday as the Spurs prepared for a crucial game three of the NBA Finals in what promises to be a raucously hostile Madison Square Garden.
The 22-year-old Frenchman, in the playoffs for the first time in his third NBA season, was the driving force of the young Spurs’ unexpected run to the championship series. But Wembanyama has faltered in the face of an aggressive and well-planned Knicks defense, producing moments of brilliance but also devastating miscues including a costly late turnover and missed final shot in the Spurs’ 105-104 game two 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.
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“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 7-foot-4 (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 year, San Antonio roared into title contention this season with a dazzling 62-win campaign. They followed that up with a superb march through the playoffs, culminating in an against-the-odds seven-game defeat of the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference finals.
But they squandered a 14-point second half lead in a game-one loss to the Knicks, and their furious fourth-quarter rally in game two was undone by late mistakes. “We need to capitalize, 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’s imperative the Spurs avoid falling into a 3-0 hole — something no NBA team has come back from to win a playoff series. “We’ve got one game (Monday) night at 8:30 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.”
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