The Knicks’ head coach, Mike Brown, spoke to the media before the highly anticipated matchup between the Spurs and his team for the coveted NBA Cup’s championship game. He summarised hilariously how the Knicks have planned to stop Victor Wembanyama tonight.
While the media believed having Wembanyama’s former Olympics teammate, Guerschon Yabusele, on his roster would bring him some intel into the mind of Wembanyama, Mike Brown felt otherwise.
“I think his intel is the same as anyone playing Wemby the night before. You go to church, get down on your knees, and say a prayer to the good lord. And hopefully he responds by making Wemby miss a couple of shots,” said Brown hilariously.
In the three games that Wembanyama has played against the Knicks in his career, he averaged 32.0 points, 15.7 rebounds, and 4.3 assists while shooting 49.3% from the floor.
Victor Wembanyama, just like in the last game against the Thunder, will be coming off the bench instead of starting. Luke Kornet will seemingly retain his starter role tonight, while Wembanyama is expected to be on a minutes restriction as well.
The French superstar came off the bench last game after not playing the entire first quarter and provided the spark that the Spurs needed to rally back into the race and eventually beat the Thunder. He finished with 22 points, nine rebounds, two assists, and two blocks while shooting 54.5% from the field.
Both teams’ players can potentially earn $530,933 tonight, depending on who wins the championship game. While the idea of winning a title is a significant motivation, the prize money just becomes an additional fuel for the players to compete harder.
“Poor Vic needs more money, right? No, I haven’t thought what I’ll do with it. Just stacking money hasn’t really been a goal of mine,” said Wembanyama when asked if the prize money is any additional motivation for him.
The loser of this game will still walk away with $212,400. A lot is at stake tonight in Vegas.
Neither of these teams had been to the NBA Cup championship game before tonight. A new NBA Cup champion is about to be crowned in Las Vegas tonight to join the elite list alongside the Lakers (inaugural winners in 2023-24) and the Bucks (winners of the NBA Cup in 2024-25).
I believe that while the minutes restriction is an injury management concern for the French superstar coming off a left calf strain, it will be interesting to see how the Knicks adapt to the new strategy by the Spurs of making Victor Wembanyama come off the bench.
