After a rough start to the NBA Finals, the San Antonio Spurs are already staring at a possible sweep against the New York Knicks.
As the series heads to Madison Square Garden, Victor Wembanyama has sounded the alarm to his Spurs teammates.
Victor Wembanyama Reflects On Spurs’ Slow Start to NBA Finals
Down 2-0 against the surging Knicks, the Spurs players will have to deliver something special to claw their way back into the NBA Finals. The Knicks are on a 13-game winning streak and will fancy their chances of lifting a first NBA title since 1973.
Both games have been close affairs, but the Knicks have been sharper in the decisive moments while the Spurs have been made to rue their slip-ups.
Wembanyama, who committed a costly turnover in the closing seconds of Game 2 that allowed the Knicks to take a 2-0 lead, believes the Spurs must figure out a way to make their opportunities count in big moments.
“We need to capitalize, actually use all the efforts we did. It felt like we did a lot of things wrong. But we also were relentless and kept pushing, but kind of like wasted that effort.”
“Even though I know it’s not wasted because our lessons are learned, I know we’re not going to make the mistakes of the past again. But in a moment like this, we need to make these things matter,” Wembanyama said during a press conference ahead of Game 3.”
Wembanyama has been the top scorer for the Spurs in both games of the NBA Finals. However, he has been forced into difficult looks by Karl-Anthony Towns. The 7-foot-4 center shot 28.6% from the field in Game 1 and 52.4% in Game 2 while turning the ball over 10 times across the two games.
The Spurs players can take encouragement from the Western Conference Finals, where they came back from 2-1 and 3-2 down to defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 7.
Wembanyama, who was recently crowned the NBA Defensive Player of the Year, will look to lead from the front as the Spurs attempt to upset the odds in the next two games at Madison Square Garden. He will be desperate to make up for his costly Game 2 blunder with his team in must-win territory going into Game 3.
For the Spurs, it is high time to apply the lessons learned from the opening two games on the court. Otherwise, it will likely be too late in their bid to win a first NBA title since 2014.
