Victor Wembanyama and the young San Antonio Spurs have dug themselves an 0-2 hole in the NBA Finals series against the New York Knicks. They are now headed on the road to face the hostile crowd at Madison Square Garden to fight for a chance to keep their championship hopes alive.
Since no team has ever come back from this position in NBA history (losing both home games in the first two fixtures of the series), Wembanyama and the Spurs will have to pull off a miracle at this point to make it happen.
Nonetheless, the French star sounded confident in his own capabilities, going into Game 3 of the series. He spoke to the media after practice, where he was asked how he has been dealing with the pressure of being down 0-2 in the NBA Finals.
“I think the key is acceptance a lot of times, and taking a step back, realizing all the journey that’s behind us and what’s ahead of us. And just being okay with who I am, where I am, what I’m doing,”
“I think at the end of the day, this is everything that I wish for. So there’s no reason to really overthink it. Or I mean, this is what I’m built for,” Wembanyama said boldly.
In his first postseason experience, leading a team to the NBA Finals, in just his third season in the league, is a lot of pressure on the young shoulders of Victor Wembanyama. But he seems to believe he works best with the odds stacked against him on the biggest stage in the league.
Even when President Donald Trump has confirmed that he will be in attendance for Game 3, Wembanyama sounds confident that the additional media attention that brings will not throw him off his game.
“Not really. I think it could be,” Wembanyama said on whether he expects to feel burdened by the extra media attention on Game 3. “But isolating myself is something I’ve practiced over the years. And I think I’m good at it. So it’s not a problem. This is similar to something media-wise, like the Olympics.”
Even during the 2024 Paris Olympics, Victor Wembanyama and Team France were facing the Team USA ‘Avengers’ in the Gold Medal Game when the entire world’s media was focused on him. Even though Team USA won that game, Wembanyama believes he learned key lessons on how to block out the noise from that experience.
However, his numbers indicate otherwise. The French star is currently averaging 27.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 3.5 blocks while going 40.5% from the floor and 26.7% from beyond the arc.
While his performance may have been acceptable on defense, his efficiency on offense, and arguably his costly turnover near the end of Game 2, have certainly given glimpses that Wembanyama may not be ‘built’ for this high-pressure moment just yet. The media also resurfaced the narrative about the Spurs’ lack of experience despite Wembanyama saying it was immaterial.
But just like Robert Horry and Kevin Garnett said, Victor Wembanyama and the young Spurs need to go through some adversity to learn how to deal with the pressure of being on the biggest stage in basketball and understand the value of a championship-caliber run by setting higher expectations.
This will certainly be a learning experience for the Spurs, but I’m afraid I anticipate it may not be anything more, as they have dug a hole that is too deep for them to dig themselves out of.
