Spurs' Victor Wembanyama dominates early but not enough to deny Knicks championship-clinching Game 5 win
Published in Basketball
The Knicks got the full Victor Wembanyama experience in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
The 7-4 center’s dominant defense set the tone for the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night, preventing the Knicks from doing practically anything in the paint early on.
And Wembanyama got away with another controversial non-call, this time not giving Jalen Brunson room to land on a 3-pointer, which left the Knicks star writhing in pain.
But in the end, none of that was enough for the NBA’s top young star to deny the Knicks a long-awaited championship.
The Knicks won, 94-90, at the Frost Bank Center on Saturday night to clinch the franchise’s first title in 53 years.
Wembanyama finished with 19 points on 7-of-18 shooting, 14 rebounds and five blocks, but the French sensation’s first NBA crown will have to wait.
After the Spurs fell into a 3-1 hole, Wembanyama, 22, maintained confidence in the Spurs’ ability to come back, saying, “Everybody thinks, everybody knows, we’re going to do it.”
Wembanyama had faded down the stretch of Wednesday’s Game 4 loss — during which he played a series-high 44 minutes — and later admitted fatigue was a factor.
But Saturday marked the second instance in the series in which there were two days off between games, and Wembanyama came out with more energy to begin Game 5.
Defensively, Wembanyama continued to play the “rover” role in which he roamed the baseline and protected the paint and corners, an adjustment the Spurs made after he struggled to defend the bulkier Karl-Anthony Towns in Games 1 and 2.
That thwarted the Knicks’ offense, as Wembanyama had three blocks in the game’s first four minutes and five blocks in the first 14.
With Wembanyama backing them up inside, the Spurs’ guards were able to put considerable pressure on the Knicks’ ball-handlers — all of which helped limit the Knicks to just 13 points in the first quarter.
The Knicks missed their first 13 shot attempts inside the paint, and they didn’t score their first paint points until the second quarter.
On the other end, Towns continued to hold up against Wembanyama defensively, helping limit the Spurs star to 3-of-10 shooting in the first half.
But Towns picked up his fourth foul just 15 seconds into the second half, sending him to the bench for the rest of the third quarter.
Wembanyama took advantage as the Knicks deployed Mitchell Robinson and even a few ultra-small lineups without a center, scoring seven points on 3-of-4 shooting in the third, after which the Spurs led, 72-65.
The bigger story of the third quarter, however, was Wembanyama’s uncalled contact with Brunson.
With 5:29 remaining in the period, Brunson rose up for a 3-pointer, which he made. Wembanyama stuck his foot beneath Brunson, who then landed on it, turned his left ankle and ended up on the ground.
The refs did not call a foul on Wembanyama, even though NBA rules dictate defenders “must give airborne shooters the opportunity to land safely.”
The rule book continues: “If the defender’s movement is deemed to be reckless, a Flagrant foul may be assessed.”
That was especially notable because Wembanyama entered Wednesday with three “flagrant points.” Once a player picks up four flagrant points in the postseason, they are subject to a one-game suspension.
Wembanyama had previously gotten away with a Game 3 shove of Brunson, which the NBA later said should have been called a foul.
However, the league declined to retroactively assess a flagrant foul to Wembanyama. Wembanyama then earned his third flagrant point of the playoffs when he was called for a flagrant 1 in Game 4 for catching Towns in the chin with an elbow.
Saturday’s non-call could have been retroactively reviewed, too, but it became moot after Brunson’s fourth-quarter heroics completed yet another Knicks’ comeback, leading to the franchise’s first championship since 1973.
It was a quiet fourth quarter for Wembanyama, who had three points on 1-of-4 shooting and missed a free throw with 1:53 to go.
Saturday’s loss capped an uneven first Finals for Wembanyama, the NBA’s unanimous Defensive Player of the Year, third-place finisher for MVP, and frontrunner to be the league’s next face.
Wembanyama was productive in the series, but he made his share of miscues, including a bad-pass turnover and subsequent foul of Brunson in the waning seconds of Game 2 that set up the Knicks’ game-winning free throw.
In Game 4, Wembanyama missed 10 of his final 12 shots and two free throws with 1:47 remaining in the Knicks’ come-from-behind 107-106 victory that night.
The future remains bright for Wembanyama, and this series could very well be looked upon as a learning moment for the burgeoning superstar.
But this wasn’t Wembanyama’s time yet.
It was the Knicks’ time.
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