NBA Finals: Epic collapse leaves Victor Wembanyama, Spurs searching for answers
NEW YORK — “There is an unraveling, a great unraveling that I believe is occurring. Not without its pain, not without its frustration.” — Terry Tempest Williams
With seconds remaining Wednesday night, as an island of silver and black engulfed in the sea of blue and orange sheepishly gathered around each other, attempting to make sense of a roof that was rapidly caving in, Madison Square Garden roared in utter disbelief.
A first half that had seen the Spurs build a 29-point lead, 24 minutes of flawless, effortless basketball, turning the ball over just twice and connecting on a Finals-record 14 3s was long gone. In its place stood an inexperienced, mistake-laden group that suddenly forgot how to play with one another, forgot how to execute against a worthy opponent. OG Anunoby’s tip-in with 2.1 seconds left in regulation was technically the game-winner, but San Antonio accepted defeat long before that.
New York’s faithful, the prideful and passionate, the arrogant and emotional, stayed long after the final buzzer, with the arena speakers blaring city anthems, an entire population wrapped in arms, rejoicing as a family. A deserved win. In the bowels of that same building, San Antonio’s youthful core, forced to come to terms with another painful playoff lesson, bemoaned a lost opportunity.
“To put as much good work into that first half as we did, get the lead that we had and not finish the job, is disappointing to say the least,” head coach Mitch Johnson said following the 107-106 loss that gave the Knicks a 3-1 NBA Finals lead. “… Painful, again, yeah, because we played so well. That’s a game where you sit there and you say you had the type of personnel that you had, you shot the ball decent, played a pretty clean game. Then kind of didn’t finish the job, stopped putting energy in the right spots that got you that lead, what we’re playing for.”
The longer these Finals have dragged on, the more apparent it’s become that this high-level matchup, for as many schematic tweaks and adjustments as two elite coaching staffs can make, has boiled down to the intangibles. And that, in itself, is a chess move. The 30,000-foot view shows that for a good portion of Game 4, the Spurs had the Knicks figured out. Forty-three attempted 3s were the result of timely downhill drives, absorbing the defense and spraying back out to the perimeter for clean looks. Dylan Harper and De’Aaron Fox, protectors of pace, caused havoc in the half-court, scurrying around while getting to their spots at will. Victor Wembanyama playing — and winning — the mental game, getting Karl-Anthony Towns into foul trouble and causing Mitchell Robinson to lose his cool after a series of tough baskets on his head.
But at some point, everything changed. Suddenly, San Antonio stopped seeking rim attacks, settling for ill-advised jumpers. Suddenly, a defense that had done well to limit Towns’ impact had no idea how to account for Anunoby’s physicality, versatility and smarts, or Jalen Brunson’s three-level shotmaking. Suddenly, Stephon Castle’s inability to recreate his Game 3 magic — and Wembanyama’s crowded airspace — became bigger and bigger issues. Suddenly, the Spurs’ pillars struggled, again, to close a game, turning the ball over and missing free throws in the clutch. Suddenly, a team that had spent so much energy downloading information about their opponent in hopes of bettering themselves lost sight of their key principles. And suddenly, the game — and likely the series — was gone. Four-for-20 shooting in the third quarter, 4-for-19 shooting in the fourth. In the biggest half of their season.
“I can’t really explain it right now,” Wembanyama said. “I don’t know. I think it’s just execution, greediness of some sort. We clearly weren’t the most hungry in the second half … I don’t know about the emotions, but it was painful, of course. It feels like we worked too hard and give up our leads. It’s as simple as that. It just hurts.”
Over the next 48 hours, which will feel like 96 depending with whom you speak, an organization that has built so much equity over months will attempt to dissect exactly what went wrong in hopes of prolonging its season. But something shifted Wednesday night. And it had nothing to do with free-throw rates, rim-protection stats or shot quality. New York, a city that breeds hustlers and heroes born out of desperation and determination, simply wants it more. Advanced analytics can’t track heart. Trends can’t determine will. The box score doesn’t keep track of destiny.
A Spurs team that held a near-30-point lead — and one that has built advantages at various junctures over the past week — still has positive areas to draw upon heading into a do-or-die moment. The return to San Antonio, to the embrace of its rabid fanbase, should give it yet another emotional edge on a night when it simply can’t afford any more mistakes. But as the Spurs stare at the 3-1 wall, with only one team in NBA history ever emerging victorious after that deficit, there’s only one thing this young group can do.
“Holding each other accountable,” Wembanyama said. “Communicating. Not pointing fingers. And after that, we either got it or we don’t. But we’ve proven that we can surpass these difficulties. Even though we haven’t been there before, I’m convinced we’re built that way, and we’re going to use the better of this. It’s going to tighten us up.”
