Victor Wembanyama’s NBA Finals fairytale has turned into a clutch-time nightmare

The Victor Wembanyama fairytale has turned into something of a nightmare in these NBA Finals against the Knicks. He admittedly played poorly in Game 1, was a total no-show in the first half of Game 2, and then, after the Spurs erased a 12-point deficit with a furious fourth-quarter rally and had the ball in a tie game with under 15 seconds to play, he committed the turnover that could end up going down as his version of Chris Webber’s infamous timeout. 

The turnover came on the heels of a great defensive possession. Wembanyama stayed in front of Jalen Brunson, forced a miss and grabbed the rebound with just under 12 seconds to play. The Spurs had a timeout, but didn’t use it as Wemby turned to push the ball up the floor. Stephon Castle was there for an outlet pass, but the instant he saw Wemby take a dribble, he turned away and began running down the sideline. Wemby passed it to him anyway — straight into his back. 

The turnover was bad enough. The foul on Brunson was salt in the wound. That’s about as tough a sequence as you can have in the Finals. From having the ball in position to push for a potential game-winning shot to sending your opponent to the free-throw line in about a two-second span. 

To make matters even worse, after Brunson missed one of the free throws, Wemby still had a chance to erase the error and hit the game-winner anyway. He set a ball screen for De’Aaron Fox and popped behind the elbow for a clean midrange jumper at the buzzer. Back iron. Knicks win 105-104 to take a 2-0 series lead back to New York. 

“I threw that one away. I messed up,” Wembanyama told reporters. “We didn’t play great as a team. We needed to win that game. This game was ours. But at this point, it’s done. 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.”

Wemby is right on almost all accounts. He did throw the ball away. It was a monumental mess-up. The Spurs didn’t play great, and they definitely needed to win this game. Whether the game was ever really in the Spurs’ control is a matter of debate. It’s true, they did have all the momentum and led by two with under a minute remaining, but the Knicks more or less dominated them for most of the night. They were lucky to be in that position late. 

But they were in position to steal this game and climb right back in the series nonetheless, and while Wemby played a big part in the comeback, scoring 22 of his 29 points in the second half, his clutch struggles weren’t limited to that turnover and missed potential game-winner. 

With under two minutes to play and the Spurs down three, he tried to rush back behind the corner 3-point line with 10 seconds still on the shot clock and wound up hoisting an airball. 

With 39 seconds left, he settled for a long midrange jumper (where he is shooting 25% in the playoffs, the worst mark of any player over the last eight postseasons who has taken at least 35 such shots) with a chance to break a 104-104 tie. Brick. 

These are just bad shots, plain and simple. Wemby was likely going for a 2-for-1 on this last one, and if he was, he didn’t need to shoot that early and he definitely didn’t need to concede to a contested 2-pointer when he’d finally found a rhythm late in the game by attacking the basket. 

In Game 1, it was too much of the same. On one clutch-time possession, he managed to hit the side of the backboard twice. The first one was a tough shot. Credit to Karl-Anthony Towns (who should be the Finals MVP at this point) for the defense. The second one was a wide-open corner 3. 

With under a minute to play in a two-possession game, he tried to cross over Towns and dribbled it off his foot. 

Wembanyama admitted he need to have “more poise” and “more control over the game” moving forward, and that’s true. But it’s not that easy when you’re up against stronger opponents who are more or less dominating you physically. He’s so tall and so skilled that he’s still putting up numbers, and the Spurs still won his minutes on Friday. But he cannot get to the spots he wants to get to, and he’s being forced, for the most part, to operate on New York’s terms. 

In that context, pressing is human nature. The Spurs as a whole are making too many careless mistakes when they’re already up against what looks like a superior team in the first place. Somehow, the turnover battle was pretty much even in Game 2, and the Spurs only committed 13 in Game 1 (a fine number considering the pace and physicality of this series). But it feels like a bigger problem for San Antonio. 

The turnovers the Spurs are committing are big ones. In momentum spots. Wembanyama has 10 of them over the first two games. Stephon Castle plays on the edge of out of control, and he’s going over that edge a bit too often. I hate playing the inexperience card, but perhaps that’s part of it (even though we have praised the Spurs all postseason for the way they have looked like a bunch of 10-year vets out there, and even though we’ve seen Wembanyama, Castle and Dylan Harper all come up with some incredibly clutch shots in these playoffs). 

But the Knicks just look tougher. Both teams are playing fast, but there’s running and there’s running behind, and they are two different things. The Spurs look like they’re in more of a hurry. Trying to play catch-up against a better team that is on one of the greatest postseason runs we’ve ever seen. It’s a lot to process in real time, and on Friday night, in the biggest moment of the biggest series of his life, Wembanyama just wasn’t able to slow it all down.