Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs know they must be better in Game 2

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SAN ANTONIO – Victor Wembanyama’s demeanor nearly 12 hours after losing to the New York Knicks in Game 1 of the NBA Finals was no different from what it was minutes after the loss. 

“We don’t need to do anything incredible,” Wembanyama said early Thursday afternoon, looking ahead to Game 2 Friday in San Antonio (8:30 ET, ABC). 

As the hour neared midnight Wednesday following the Knicks’ impressive 105-95 victory, Wembanyama remained undaunted. 

“It’s almost not like I have anything to figure out. It’s almost like I have to play normal, not even good,” he said. “It’s just like doing the right things is enough. When we play bad (and) when I play bad, (it) is when we shoot ourselves in the foot. This is why I’m not worried. We’re going to be so much better. I’m going to be so much better.” 

He doubled down on earlier comments. 

“I was bad tonight. It’s not more complicated than that.” 

“I’m not worried the slightest.” 

While technically not a must-win game, the Spurs want to avoid a 2-0 deficit before the series moves to New York for Games 3 and 4. 

With a night to sleep on it and then review the video of the game with Spurs coach Mitch Johnson, the coaching staff and his teammates, Wembanyama remained serene. 

“It’s not even technical, tactical,” he said. “We need to approach the game with a better mental state. We just need to play our game. We just need to be normal.” 

Then he explained what normal is: “Normal means trusting each other, trusting the basketball gods, trusting the game plan, executing, and not relying on talent so much to make shots or to save the day. We’ve been playing a certain way all season. We’ve been successful this way. There’s no reason to change the day the Finals start.” 

It’s clear Wembanyama didn’t have his best game. He had 26 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks, but he was 6-for-21 from the field, 2-for-9 on 3-pointers and committed six turnovers.  

Much has been made of Knicks center-forward Karl-Anthony Towns’ defense on Wembanyama. With Towns as the primary defender, Wembanyama was 2-for-11 from the field and turned the ball over five times, according to NBA.com tracking data. How much of that was Towns and how much of that was Wembanyama’s decision-making? The Spurs will look to get Wembanyama into more advantageous spots offensively. 

Now, Wembanyama doesn’t bear the load for the loss. The Spurs shot 36% from the field and 25.6% on 3-pointers, and Johnson lamented their 16 assists on 32 made field goals – below 24.4 assists on 40.2 made field goals during the playoffs. Johnson didn’t like that the Knicks scored 23 second-chance points off of 10 offensive rebounds.  

“The way we played offensively in terms of a team and our brand, we didn’t play with the pass enough (and) we didn’t put enough pressure and force on the rim in the paint,” Johnson said. “It led to a lot of making or missing shots, us trying to play with talent offensively instead of playing together and finding opportunities to take advantage of forcing defenses into making decisions of giving up this or giving up that. New York gets a lot of credit for that. 

“We have a lot of room for improvement on that moving forward.” 

How do they respond? The Spurs have been good in the playoffs after a loss, and following a bad game, Wembanyama has generally been better in the next game. San Antonio has lost consecutive games just once in the playoffs, and in Wembanyama’s next game after a loss in the playoffs, he averages 26.7 points, 11 rebounds and 3.3 blocks and shoots 50.9% from the field. 

The Spurs have played through basketball hardships in each round of the playoffs:  

• Wembanyama’s concussion in the first round. 

• Losing the series opener and Wembanyama’s flagrant foul 2 ejection in the Western Conference semifinals against the Minnesota Timberwolves. 

• De’Aaron Fox missed the first two games of the Western Conference Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder and a 3-2 deficit to the Thunder, requiring a Game 7 road victory to reach the Finals. 

“We know we’re not here by chance,” Wembanyama said. “We’ve been through some weird situations, whatever. Yes, it’s reassuring to know that these guys, the 18 guys we got, are built this way, are resilient.” 

That resiliency will be tested in Game 2. 

Wembanyama told reporters he received a text from Gregg Popovich, the Hall of Fame coach who is now the team’s president of basketball operations. 

He didn’t reveal precise details, but the overall message from Popovich to Wembanyama: “It was that I’ve been bad, and I’m better than this.” 

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Jeff Zillgitt has covered the NBA since 2008. You can email him at jzillgitt@nba.com, find his archive here and follow him on X.