{"id":722085,"date":"2026-06-08T01:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T01:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/722085\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T01:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T01:26:09","slug":"victor-wembanyama-confident-he-can-help-spurs-stage-nba-finals-comeback-this-is-what-im-built-for-san-antonio-spurs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/722085\/","title":{"rendered":"Victor Wembanyama confident he can help Spurs stage NBA finals comeback: \u2018This is what I\u2019m built for\u2019 | San Antonio Spurs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Victor Wembanyama\u2019s dream run<\/a> in his first NBA playoffs has taken a nightmarish turn, but the San Antonio Spurs star says he is embracing the setbacks as well as the success.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the key is acceptance a lot of times, taking a step back, realizing all the journey that\u2019s behind this and what\u2019s ahead of this,\u201d Wembanyama said on Sunday as the Spurs prepared for a crucial Game 3 of the NBA finals<\/a> in what promises to be a hostile Madison Square Garden.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old, in the playoffs for the first time in his NBA career, has been the driving force of the young Spurs\u2019 unexpected run to the championship series. But Wembanyama has faltered<\/a> in the face of an aggressive and well-planned Knicks defense, producing moments of brilliance but also devastating miscues including a costly late turnover and missed final shot in the Spurs\u2019 105-104 Game 2 loss in San Antonio<\/a>. That dropped the Spurs into a 2-0 hole, leaving them trying to become the first team to rally to win the NBA finals after losing the first two games at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is everything that I wished for,\u201d Wembanyama said. \u201cThere\u2019s really no reason to overthink it. This is what I\u2019m built for.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 7ft 4in Frenchman has inspired a startling transformation in the Spurs\u2019 fortunes in a remarkably short period of time, culminating in an against-the-odds seven-game defeat of the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference finals. But they squandered a 14-point second half lead in a Game 1 loss to the Knicks, and their furious fourth-quarter rally in Game 2 was undone by late mistakes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to capitalize, actually use all the efforts we did,\u201d Wembanyama said. \u201cIt felt like we did a lot, we did a lot of things wrong, but we also were relentless and kept pushing, but kind of like wasted that effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said much the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s a thematic thing, the biggest thing is we\u2019ve put in some good, hard work at times, and have not taken advantage of that hard work,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThat\u2019s been partially some undisciplined things of us, partially also New York has stepped up and made some plays at the end of clock and finished out possessions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, Johnson said, it\u2019s imperative the Spurs avoid falling into a 3-0 hole \u2013 something no NBA<\/a> team has come back from to win a playoff series.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got one game [Monday] night \u2026 in Madison Square Garden,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cIt\u2019s the only game that matters. We\u2019ve got to come in here ready to win it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wembanyama is ready to produce his maximum effort for as long as he can.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenge been mostly about will, the will to do it,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel like I\u2019ll take a breather at the end of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victor Wembanyama\u2019s dream run in his first NBA playoffs has taken a nightmarish turn, but the San Antonio…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":722086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-722085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722085","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=722085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/722086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}