Spurs star Victor Wembanyama was almost lost for words following his team’s failure in Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Up big in the first half, the Spurs were just 24 minutes away from winning their second straight and tying the series at 2-2.
Unfortunately for Victor’s squad, however, they were unable to hold on to the lead. In what will go down as one of the greatest Finals game collapses in NBA history, they allowed a 29-point comeback to give the Knicks a 3-1 series lead. When pressed for an explanation after the loss, Victor Wembanyama credited a lack of urgency in the final two quarters.
“I can’t really explain it right now, I don’t know,” said Wembanyama. “I think it’s just execution, greediness of some sort. We clearly weren’t the most hungry in the second half.”
The Spurs are now on the brink of elimination and must win the next three straight games to save their season. It’s a tough ask for a team that’s already been through so much this season, but Wembanyama won’t let his team quit with a title on the line.
“It’s gonna go one of two ways,” Wembanyama said. “A bad one and a good one. The bad one would be giving up; the good one would be getting stronger from this, getting more together, and this is what we’re gonna do.”
If nothing else, this series is a great learning experience for Victor. Besides gaining experience playing under pressure, he gets to feel the full range of playoff emotions. He certainly felt the motions tonight, and he admitted the pain he felt watching their big lead slowly evaporate.
“It was painful, of course,” Victor added. “It feels like we’re working too hard to give up our leads. It just hurts.”
As for what comes next, Victor has embraced the impossible task of leading the Spurs out of this hole. Despite what history says, the French superstar is confident the Spurs can extend this series if they hold each other accountable and work together to clean up mistakes.
“Holding each other accountable, communicating, not pointing fingers,” said Wemby. “After that, we either got it or we don’t. But we’ve proven we can surpass these difficulties, and even though we haven’t been there before, I’m convinced we’re built this way and we’re gonna get better from this.”
The Spurs have typically responded well to adversity, and that’s why many fans aren’t ready to give up on them quite yet. Since they still have home-court advantage, the Spurs will have at least two games back at the Frost Bank Center, including Saturday’s must-win contest. Whether that’s enough to extend the series remains to be seen, but we know Victor will bring the heightened intensity.
After dropping 24 points, 13 rebounds, one assist, zero steals, and three blocks on just 36.0% shooting in Game 4, it’s fair to say he’s got a lot of adjustments to make in order to flip the series. But with his talent, the Spurs’ depth, and the influence of Gregg Popovich, only a fool would count the Spurs out at this point.
