The New York Knicks will attempt to find a way past the imposing 7-foot-4 frame of San Antonio Spurs prodigy Victor Wembanyama on Wednesday (all times AEDT) in their bid to end a 52-year trophy drought in the NBA Cup final in Las Vegas.
The 18-7 Knicks head into Wednesday’s final, scheduled to tip off at 12.30pm, at the T-Mobile Center brimming with confidence after polishing off Eastern Conference top seeds Orlando with ease in Sunday’s semi-finals.
That win has left the New York franchise within touching distance of a first piece of silverware since the team’s 1973 NBA Finals victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.
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Blocking their path, though, is the fit-again Wembanyama, the 21-year-old French giant who was instrumental in helping the 18-7 Spurs upset the in-form Oklahoma City Thunder in Sunday’s Western Conference semi-final.
Wembanyama played limited minutes in the defeat of Oklahoma City, appearing from the bench in the second quarter to haul San Antonio back into contention after they had trailed by 11 points at the end of the first quarter.
He’s set to again come off the bench again in Wednesday’s final.
The winning team of the title game will take home around $530,000 per player and the loser gets approximately $212,00 per player.
It’s the only game in the NBA Cup that doesn’t count towards the teams’ regular season records.
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New York stated hot out of the gates, racing to an early 7-2 lead. The Spurs were able to wrestle it back and took a 14-12 advantage as Wembanyama, who didn’t play any of the first quarter in the semi-finals, entered Wednesday’s game at the 7:03 mark of the opening term to a loud ovation.
A crafty Karl-Anthony Towns dish to OG Anunoby under the bucket while he was getting double-teamed was one of the highlights of the first quarter.
San Antonio led 30-28 at the first break, with Devin Vassell leading the way with seven points and Harrison Barnes and De’Aaron Fox adding six apiece. Wembanyama had two points and three rebounds in five minutes.
Anunoby had a game-high 10 points with two triples and Brunson chipped in nine points.
San Antonio stayed on top in the second quarter, with triples to Julian Champagnie and Dylan Harper opening up a 41-35 edge in the first couple of minutes.
The Knicks got stuck in a scoring drought, missing six-straight shots to force Mike Brown to call a time-out with his side down 46-40 at the 6:59 mark.
Anunoby stayed hot with a three out of the time-out to get New York within as many points and push his scoring total out to 16 points.
In the final minute of the half, Anunoby finished a tough layup then threw down a fastbreak slam to make it 20 points and reduce the Spurs lead to 61-59 at the main break.
“He’s done everything tonight,” Dwyane Wade said of Anunoby on Prime Video commentary.
Vassell scored a team-high 12 for San Antonio and Wembanyama had four points, four rebounds, a steal and a block in 10 minutes.
Knicks talisman Jalen Brunson said New York would attempt to drag Wembanyama out of position defensively.
“You’ve got to find ways to pull him away from the basket, and you’ve got to obviously be smart,” Brunson said of Wembanyama.
“You can’t just go in there and think no one is going to come and affect the shot.
“He’s great at what he does, and we’ve just got to be smart as a team, playing off two feet and reading where he is and just trying to get the best shot as possible.”
Karl-Anthony Towns echoed Brunson’s assessment of Wembanyama.
“He’s (7-4), and he’s very talented,” Towns said.
“For us, we’re going to have to do a good job of executing our defensive game plan and offensively, as well.”
Knicks coach Mike Brown said neutralising Wembanyama would require a team effort.
“You’re not going to be able to guard a guy like that one-on-one,” Brown said.
“You try to put length, size, physicality at the point of attack when it comes to him, but it’s got to be five guys guarding the basketball at all times.
“We have some pretty good defenders with length, and hopefully they can try to make it as difficult as possible with him, knowing that they have help behind them.”
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Wembanyama’s introduction from the bench on Sunday sent a surge of excitement rippling through the T-Mobile Arena crowd, who later showered the Frenchman with chants of “M-V-P.”
Wembanyama, meanwhile, said San Antonio’s defeat of Oklahoma City augured well for the chances of the Spurs emerging as genuine rivals to the Thunder in the Western Conference.
“I think we’re not quite there yet, but it’s a good sign that people see that it’s possible,” Wembanyama said.
“I don’t think anybody right now can claim to have a rivalry with them in the league. They’re in their own tier.
“But in the future if we can provide a stage this good and we reach that level, of course it would be great to have a rivalry because if you’re at the top and you have a rivalry, it means you’re in the best position to win titles.”
Wembanyama said while a San Antonio victory on Wednesday would “not be super significant step” it would still carry some significance.
“It’s a high-stakes game that both teams are going to be very invested in winning,” Wembanyama said.
“It just shows that we are preparing and we will pass the next step for more significant games in the playoffs.”
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