SAN ANTONIO – Victor Wembanyama, the tallest man in these NBA Finals, is about to face the tallest order of his basketball career.
And he's fine with that.
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Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs — who just became the first team in NBA Finals history to lead a game by 29 points and still lose — need to win the next three games, or they'll watch the New York Knicks celebrate an NBA title at their expense. And when the Spurs gathered for practice on Friday, Wembanyama insisted the belief within the Spurs camp is still there.
“Everybody thinks, everybody knows, we’re going to do it,” Wembanyama said.
If he was nervous, he hid it well. The 7-foot-4 French star has helped the Spurs stave off elimination twice already in these playoffs, after San Antonio won Games 6 and 7 of the Western Conference finals against Oklahoma City and ended the Thunder's reign as NBA champions.
Now, the Spurs have to do it again on Saturday in Game 5 against the Knicks. And if they win Saturday, they'll have to do it again in Game 6 on Tuesday. And if they win Tuesday, a Game 7 awaits next Friday.
“I feel like we need to isolate that one game and take it one game at a time,” Wembanyama said. “I think it would be a mistake to waste our energy on multiple games. It’s one game at a time.”
The Spurs led Game 1 by 14 points and lost by 10. They led Game 2 by 12 points and lost by one. They won Game 3 by four, then had the 29-point lead in Game 4 and lost by one.
Clearly, they know how to get into position to beat the Knicks.
They just haven't finished it off in three of the four games. And now, they will try to be just the second team in NBA Finals history to successfully rally from a 3-1 series deficit; Cleveland did it against Golden State in 2016. The other 37 teams that have tried to do so all failed.
“It definitely matters," Spurs guard Stephon Castle said. “I feel like we’ve made history all year, and we’ve proven that with our backs against the wall that we can step up. So, I don’t really expect this to be any different.”
Neither does Wembanyama.
The Spurs know they're good enough. They've had the leads. They've won every first quarter, then frittered those advantages away. In Game 3, they recovered. In Games 1, 2 and 4, they didn't. In Game 5, they'll have to — or else.
“You said all of it,” Wembanyama said. “We’re very confident. I wouldn’t say it was so hard to shake off (Game 4). Harder than any other game before, by far, for sure. I mean, now we’re over it. It’s the playoffs. There’s no time to regret things for too long."
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