Victor Wembanyama was strikingly calm.
Stephon Castle was markedly confident.
So what that the Spurs trail the Knicks 1-0 in the Finals? So what that those two guys are 22 and 21 years old, respectively? So what that no one thought they were ready for the league’s biggest stage?
They’ve proved everyone wrong, and they’re hellbent on doing it again.
The basketball world winced when Wembanyama suffered a concussion in Game 2 of the Spurs’ first-round series against the Trail Blazers and needed to enter the league’s concussion protocol. There goes the Spurs’ postseason run.
It rolled its eyes when San Antonio lost Game 1 of its second round series to the Timberwolves. So much for being the real deal.
It started writing the Spurs’ obituary when they faced Game 7 of the Western Conference finals in Oklahoma City against the reigning champion Thunder and its two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Welp, it was a good run.
But the Spurs didn’t flinch in any of those moments. They leaned on one another. Their belief in themselves over the last two months has deepened to form a well of confidence form which they now draw after squandering home-court advantage against the Knicks in a 105-95 loss on Wednesday.
Said Wembanyama: “I’m not worried the slightest.”
Added Castle: “We feel like we’re the better team. We didn’t play well, and we still had a chance to win.”
The Spurs led by as many as 14 points in the third quarter before they let their lead slip through their fingers in the final six minutes of that period. They were outscored in the fourth quarter, 29-19.
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson didn’t even need to watch film to pinpoint where they need to improve. It was obvious. It was glaring.
San Antonio gave up a whopping 50 points in the paint. It had only 16 assists. Wembanyama, who shot 51.2 percent from the field and 34.9 percent from beyond the arc this season, shot a woeful 6-for-21 from the field (28.5 percent) and 2-for-9 from deep (22.2 percent) in Game 1.
Gregg Popovich, who coached the Spurs for 29 seasons and led them to five championships before stepping down after suffering a stroke in Nov. 2024, sent Wembanyama a text after watching the team’s implosion Wednesday night.
The gist?
“I’ve been bad,” Wembanyama said. “And I’m better than this.”
The Spurs weren’t good, and they still had a 95-94 lead with 2:16 left. They let Jalen Brunson score 13 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter. They committed five turnovers in that period while the Knicks had none. They were careless. They were outplayed.
They got in their own way.
That doesn’t instill fear in the Spurs. If they played their best and lost, that might have shaken them a bit more. But this was not that.
Heck, even if that had happened, this Spurs team would likely still believe in themselves.
If there’s anything this playoff run has taught us about them, it’s that they’re unflappable.
The Spurs’ stars might barely be of drinking age, but they’ve proved they’re mature enough to block out noise that can be deafening for players who are accustomed to big stages.
Too young? Too inexperienced? They’ve made a mockery of those narratives.
Counterintuitively, it makes you wonder if their youth is their superpower. There’s a certain cockiness that can come with not knowing any better.
Castle was quick to shut that down.
“I don’t know if that’s our youth talking,” he said. “It might just be more of what our character is like. I don’t think we’ll ever change from being this way, having this kind of confidence in each other, no matter how young we are.”
That deep belief in themselves is what has gotten the Spurs through three series. It has gotten them to the championship round earlier than anyone thought possible.
They’ve faced a 1-0 series deficit before. That didn’t faze them.
They dethroned the defending champs who many believed would become the league’s next dynasty. You think they’re afraid of the Knicks?
Wembanyama already indelibly stamped his name into postseason lore with a 41-point, 24-rebound, three-block performance against the Thunder in Game 1 of that series. You think he’s going to get in his head about a mediocre Finals debut?
Think again.
There’s a fearlessness about the Spurs.
No one thought they’d be here this quickly. They have nothing to lose.
And that makes them very dangerous.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
