Victor Wembanyama is not worried about Knicks fans. Whether he should be is another question.
The Spurs star was asked Sunday about the Madison Square Garden atmosphere that awaits him in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. MSG is expected to be one of the loudest, most hostile environments in modern Finals history, and Wembanyama essentially shrugged it off.
“Not really. I think it could be, but isolating myself is something I’ve practiced over the years,” Wembanyama said. “I think I’m good at it, so it’s not a problem.”
That is on brand for Wembanyama. The 7-foot-4 French center is famous for his offseason monk retreats and meditative practices. Last summer he spent time in a monastery and posted about reading philosophy. Isolating himself from outside noise is something he has actually worked at.
Whether that translates to a packed and hostile MSG with President Donald Trump in attendance, courtside celebrities screaming at him, and 20,000 fans waiting to remind him of every missed shot is the test.
This is also where Spurs fans have to confront the harder truth. The Spurs are down 2-0 because they lost both home games to a Knicks team that just outplayed them in the fourth quarter. Wembanyama himself made a critical Game 2 turnover that led directly to Brunson’s go-ahead free throws.
That late-game blunder is the bigger issue for San Antonio. The crowd is a manageable variable. The Spurs’ fourth-quarter execution has not been.
San Antonio has been the better team for stretches of this series. Wembanyama has had moments. The role players have given Gregg Popovich something to work with. But the Knicks have closed every close game and the Spurs have repeatedly come up short when the score tightens.
Wembanyama’s calm answer is the right energy publicly. Privately, the Spurs need way more than meditation. They need someone to make a fourth-quarter shot. They need Devin Vassell or Stephon Castle to take some pressure off Wembanyama. They need Popovich to find a defensive look that bothers Jalen Brunson.
The MSG crowd will be brutal. The crowd is not what is beating the Spurs. The Knicks are beating them by playing winning basketball when it counts.
If Wembanyama really has practiced isolating himself the way he claims, Game 3 is the moment to prove it. The Spurs are not coming back in this series without a level of mental toughness they have not yet shown in the Finals. Wembanyama is the only one with the size, skill, and self-belief to drag them to that level.
The Knicks are at home. The crowd will be loud. None of that matters if Wemby plays like a star. All of it matters if he does not.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
