SAN ANTONIO — Victor Wembanyama looked ready to take the crown.
The first unanimous Defensive Player of the Year became the unanimous Western Conference Finals MVP after ousting back-to-back MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the reigning champion Thunder in Game 7 in Oklahoma City.
Wembanyama, 22, was widely hailed as the best player in the world.
But through his first two games in the NBA Finals, he hasn’t even been the best big man.
Despite respectable numbers (27.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, 3.5 blocks), Wembanyama has struggled to find easy looks against Karl-Anthony Towns, while shooting 40.5 percent from the field and 26.7 percent on 3-pointers.
On the other end, Towns (19.5 points, 12.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 55.6 percent shooting, 42.9 percent on 3-pointers) has repeatedly dragged the Spurs star away from the rim and blown past him off the dribble.
“It’s very different from [the] previous series,” Wembanyama said after the 105-104 loss in Game 2. “It’s bringing us into difficult areas because they’re good players. [Towns is] a good player.
“We need to put ourselves in better [positions]. We’re digging ourselves a hole. That’s been the theme so far.”
In Game 1, the Spurs blew a 14-point second-half lead, as Wembanyama was 6-for-21 shooting.
In Game 2, the 7-foot-4 phenom led an incredible fourth-quarter comeback and scored 22 of his 29 points in the second half, but he finished with two misses in the final 30 seconds — including the potential game-winner before the buzzer — and an inexcusable turnover and foul that set Jalen Brunson up for the go-ahead free throw with 9.5 seconds remaining.
“That’s the most frustrating thing, to throw it away after putting in all this work,” said Wembanyama, who admitted to feeling “blurry” in the final minute. “Am I going to regret it? Yes, of course. Am I going to use that to fuel me and to fuel us next game? Absolutely.”
Wembanyama’s chance for redemption comes Monday in the most anticipated game at Madison Square Garden this century.
He needs a win to avoid the death sentence of a 3-0 series deficit, which no team has recovered from in NBA history.
The 1995 Magic were the last team to lose the first two games of the NBA Finals at home, led by a generational 23-year-old center who would eventually earn four rings and three Finals MVP awards.
But before Shaquille O’Neal claimed the crown, he would endure the embarrassment of a sweep against Hakeem Olajuwon and the Rockets on the sport’s biggest stage.
“I mean, here we are,” Wembanyama said. “We can’t change the past now. We’re already focused on Game 3.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
