{"id":718874,"date":"2026-06-06T11:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T11:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/718874\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T11:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T11:26:11","slug":"victor-wembanyama-takes-personal-blame-for-spurs-0-2-nba-finals-hole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/718874\/","title":{"rendered":"Victor Wembanyama Takes Personal Blame for Spurs’ 0-2 NBA Finals Hole"},"content":{"rendered":"

The San Antonio Spurs<\/a> had the New York Knicks<\/a> right where they wanted them. A Game 2 win on the road would have leveled the 2026 NBA<\/a> Finals and completely flipped the momentum.<\/p>\n

Instead, a turnover in the final seconds handed New York<\/a> a 105-104 win and a 2-0 series lead heading into Madison Square Garden. Victor Wembanyama<\/a> was at the center of it. With 13.6 seconds left and the score tied at 104, he grabbed a defensive rebound after Jalen Brunson<\/a> missed a jumper.<\/p>\n

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Pushing the pace, Wembanyama found Stephon Castle<\/a> but the pass caught the rookie guard off guard. Brunson read the play, jumped the passing lane and came away with the steal. He was fouled on the play and converted one of two free throws to put New York up by one.<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama speaks with reporters during the NBA Finals.Daniel Dunn-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

San Antonio<\/a> got one last look but Wembanyama’s jumper didn’t fall and the Knicks walked away with the win.<\/p>\n

After the game, Wembanyama didn’t dodge the question. He owned it.<\/p>\n

“I threw that one away. I messed up,” Wemby said. “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. Yes, am I gonna regret it? Yes, of course. Am I gonna use that to fuel me, to fuel us in next game? Absolutely.”<\/p>\n

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Spurs’ Young Core Faces Toughest Test Yet<\/p>\n

Wembanyama has shown throughout his career that he processes mistakes quickly and rarely repeats them. That quality has helped him become one of the most compelling young players in the league in just his third season. But the Finals operate on a different level.<\/p>\n

There’s no grace period and no time to ease into the moment. Every possession carries real consequences. But the bigger picture here is what this series keeps exposing. Both Wembanyama and Castle have been caught making the kind of mistakes that experienced playoff teams tend to punish.<\/p>\n

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On that final possession, De’Aaron Fox was calling for the ball as the play developed but never got it. That’s the sort of split-second miscommunication that can haunt a young team deep into a series.<\/p>\n

The Spurs have been careful not to lean on their youth as a reason for any of this. They came into the Finals believing they could compete and nothing about their play has suggested otherwise. But competing and closing are two different things and New York keeps finding ways to escape.<\/p>\n

With the series now shifting to New York and the historic Madison Square Garden for Games 3 and 4 the Spurs need answers fast. Wembanyama sounds ready to provide some.<\/p>\n

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Related: Victor Wembanyama Admits His ‘Problem’ After Spurs’ Failed Comeback Against Knicks<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Jun 6, 2026, where it first appeared in the NBA<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Antonio Spurs had the New York Knicks right where they wanted them. A Game 2 win…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":718875,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,187868,20455,45376,590,1025,1666,12837,10549,85,12848,28021,12838],"class_list":["post-718874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-de39aaron-fox","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-madison-square-garden","tag-nba","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-spurs","tag-sports","tag-stephon-castle","tag-the-spurs","tag-victor-wembanyama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/718875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}