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Wembanyama was bad and he knows it — which is exactly why the Spurs should not be counted out
The most dangerous version of a generational talent is the one who just told the world he played terribly and still scored 26 points with 12 rebounds and three blocks. That was Victor Wembanyama on Wednesday night in San Antonio, where the New York Knicks took Game 1 of the NBA Finals, 105-95, on the strength of a brutal late-game swing. Wemby walked out of the locker room and, without flinching, called himself bad. He also said he wasn’t worried in the slightest. That combination — total accountability paired with total confidence — is either the sign of a superstar who genuinely understands his own ceiling, or a 22-year-old in denial. Given everything we’ve seen from him, bet on the former.
The anatomy of a collapse San Antonio handed New York
This game was the Spurs’ to lose, and they found a way to do it. According to ESPN’s report on the game, San Antonio held a one-point lead with barely two minutes remaining before New York closed things out on a devastating 11-0 run — a sequence triggered, in part, by an offensive rebound the Spurs simply failed to box out. Coach Mitch Johnson pointed specifically to second-chance opportunities as a critical failure, with the Knicks reportedly outscoring San Antonio in that category by a significant margin. The Spurs’ assist total for the night was also described by ESPN as the team’s lowest in over four years — a sign that their typically fluid offense was grinding in the mud under New York’s physical pressure.
Wembanyama acknowledged exactly that dynamic. He noted the experienced Knicks knew how to seize momentum once they got it, and that San Antonio essentially handed it to them. “We let that one go,” he said — a damning five-word summary that doubles as a road map for what needs to change.
The Knicks won this one the ugly way — which makes it more impressive
Jalen Brunson was characteristically inefficient en route to a game-high point total, reportedly taking an enormous number of shots to get there. But Brunson’s value has never been about efficiency at the margins — it’s about production when the lights are brightest, and he delivered again in the fourth quarter. Josh Hart was a menace on the glass. New York bullied San Antonio on the interior and cashed in on extra possessions. That’s a formula that works against almost anyone, and it worked here.
The lone bright spot for the Spurs outside of Wemby? Dylan Harper, whose first-quarter explosion reportedly made him the first rookie to reach double figures in the opening frame of a Finals game in a quarter-century. That kind of fearlessness from a first-year player in the biggest moment of the season is a legitimate reason for San Antonio’s optimism heading into Game 2.
Why accountability is the Spurs’ biggest asset right now
There’s a version of this where Wembanyama plays the excuses game — new stage, physical defense, bad shooting night, whatever. He didn’t. He said he was bad and that he expects to be normal, not even good, and that will be enough. That’s a player who knows his floor is still higher than most teams’ ceilings. The Knicks won Game 1 with a furious late run, but they needed every bit of that 11-0 closing burst to do it. San Antonio was right there. A few defensive rebounds and a cleaner half-court offense and this series is already tied.
The Spurs have never lost a Finals opener in franchise history, per ESPN’s reporting — so this is uncharted territory. But if Wembanyama’s response in the aftermath is any indication, San Antonio isn’t treating Game 1 as a crisis. They’re treating it as information. That’s a dangerous mindset for New York to be facing the rest of this series.
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