Victor Wembanyama was on the brink of helping the San Antonio Spurs even their NBA Finals with the New York Knicks, but a massive late-game mistake and missed shot will now be part of his story.
Game 2 saw the Spurs and Knicks each hold double-digit leads during an exciting contest, with the Spurs staging a thrilling comeback in the fourth quarter to tie and take the lead.
Unfortunately, a foul on a 3-pointer would hurt them, followed by Wemby’s attempt to pass the ball to teammate Stephon Castle with 12 seconds remaining, which he threw at his teammate’s back as he was heading up the court.
That led to Jalen Brunson grabbing the ball and Wemby fouling him, but when the Knicks star missed one of his shots, it left the door open for the Spurs to potentially pull off a one-point win at home.
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However, the final play Mitch Johnson drew up was unclear, as the ball ended up in the hands of the 7-foot-4 Wemby, who had to fire off a heroic game-winning attempt, only to watch it miss before the final buzzer. With that, the Spurs are now in a 0-2 deficit, and the 22-year-old phenom is drawing a lot of criticism for his late-game issues.
Fans on the X social media platform sounded off about what they saw from Wemby, including his errant pass to Castle, and lack of aggressiveness throughout the game.
Commenters wrote: “What a stupid turnover by Wemby to cost them the game,” and “Wemby folded twice at the end of the game.”
“Wemby with two chances to win it and he’s settling for fadeaways over Robinson smh,” someone wrote.
“Why settle for a jumper?! Terrible play call. Drive with Harper or Castle then put up a lob for Wemby,” another individual commented on X.
“Yea Wemby has the Tatum thing going on where his brain turns into pots and pans smashing together during crunchtime. It’ll be hard for him to get into the GOAT convo,” a commenter suggested.
X commenters also criticized the Spurs’ big man, saying: “Wemby doesn’t have the clutch gene” and “Wow Wemby and Castle made a huge mistake that most likely will cost them the NBA title. You live and you learn.”
Unfortunately, that play will live on in history as a painful highlight that Wemby and Castle will probably want to forget. The miscommunication clearly exposed the young Spurs’ inexperience in handling the high-stakes pressure of trying to win a crucial second game in the NBA Finals.
Game 3 will likely be considered a must-win for San Antonio given their deficit. They’ll attempt to do that at a hostile Madison Square Garden, where the Knicks fans will greatly outnumber the Spurs fans in the building.
That game arrives in New York on Monday, beginning at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC and ESPN.
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