NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Victor Wembanyama is not shying away from the spotlight in the NBA Finals, and the San Antonio Spurs would not want it any other way.<\/p>\n
Less than 48 hours after missing a shot at the end of Game 2 that would have beaten the New York Knicks and evened the series, the 22-year-old big man from France who is becoming the face of the league said the pressure of the situation does not bother him as the Spurs enter Game 3 facing a 2-0 deficit.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s really no reason to overthink it,\u201d Wembanyama said Sunday. \u201cThis is what I\u2019m built for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wembanyama has not been the problem for the Spurs. He led them with 26 points in the series opener and had a Game 2-high 29 points.<\/p>\n
Teammate Keldon Johnson’s message after Wembanyama’s would-be game-winning jumper clanked off the rim and out is, \u201cShoot it again.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s our guy,\u201d Johnson said. “From day one, he\u2019s been our guy. He\u2019s the engine offensively and defensively. You can\u2019t make every game-winner, but you can\u2019t make a shot you don\u2019t take. And we\u2019re living with that shot. Every day of the week, twice on Sundays, we\u2019re living with Vic taking our game-winning shot because that\u2019s our guy and that\u2019s the belief that we have in Victor.\u201d<\/p>\n
The belief team-wide is strong, players said before practicing at Madison Square Garden, where they know they’ll confront a hostile atmosphere on Monday night. Guard Stephon Castle called each of the first two games at home winnable, but falling short has ratcheted up the urgency.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur sense of urgency is probably the highest it\u2019s been all playoffs,\u201d said Castle, who insists his ankle feels better than expected after injuring it Friday night. \u201cI think it\u2019s just human nature to come out with a certain sense of urgency, especially after a loss.\u201d<\/p>\n
San Antonio lost back-to-back games to Oklahoma City in the Western Conference finals, though that came after winning the opener. The Spurs have not lost three in a row all season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they\u2019re not desperate now, I don\u2019t know,\u201d Knicks guard Deuce McBride said. \u201cThey know their backs are against the wall, and they\u2019re going to have to come out and they\u2019re going to have to fight. We\u2019re going to be ready, we\u2019re going to exceed that and we\u2019re going to do everything we can do to bring home a win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trying to turn things around, Spurs coach Mitch Johnson had not yet taken a walk around New York City before running practice Sunday. He and his staff maintained the same routine they’ve gone through all playoffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou dig into the film, you argue, beat yourself up,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cYou give each other feedback, figure out how to help the guys for the next game.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of his takeaways is a feeling his team has not played up to its standard as much as New York, which has won 13 in a row. Perhaps going on the road will help.<\/p>\n
The Spurs are 6-3 on the road this postseason, including a win in Game 7 of the West finals at the defending champion Thunder. Keldon Johnson said he and his teammates believe they can win \u201cregardless of where we\u2019re playing at, whether it\u2019s here, on Mars, away, home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Center Luke Kornet thinks there’s something fun about the environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the adversity, noise and all that stuff just honestly helps you sharpen up and kind of focus even more on the basketball,\u201d said Kornet, who played his first two NBA seasons with the Knicks from 2017-19. \u201cThat kind of you-against-everybody-else-in-the-building atmosphere, the pressure kind of brings you together.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pressure has never been higher, given that no team in league history has lost the first two games of the finals at home and gone on to win the title. Veteran leaders hope the Spurs can park the past and not dwell on a gut-wrenching defeat.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only thing that matters is what\u2019s in front of us right now,\u201d forward Harrison Barnes said. \u201cWe can\u2019t take last game and bring it into this game. You can learn from it, but I think the biggest thing for us how do we focus on making the plays, focus in on just how to begin as a team and just going out there and just playing free.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NBA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Victor Wembanyama is not shying away from the spotlight in the NBA Finals, and the San Antonio Spurs would not want it any other way. Less than 48 hours after missing a shot at the end of Game 2 that would have beaten the New York Knicks and evened the series, … Continue reading Victor Wembanyama says he’s ‘built for’ the pressure of the NBA Finals with the Spurs down 2-0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1452],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1513061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2026-06-10 03:41:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[0],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1513061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1513061"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1513061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1513062,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1513061\/revisions\/1513062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1513061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1513061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1513061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}