Victor Wembanyama produced a commanding performance at Madison Square Garden on Monday night, ending the New York Knicks’ 13-game postseason winning streak and injecting fresh life into the NBA Finals. The San Antonio Spurs’ 115-111 victory cut the Knicks’ series lead to 2-1, with Game 4 scheduled for Wednesday in New York.
Wembanyama, the 7ft 4in French phenom who has been the focal point of the series, delivered his finest outing of the finals: 32 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three blocks. He was supported by Stephon Castle’s 23 points, including two free throws with 6.8 seconds left that sealed the result in a third consecutive nail-biting finish. The Spurs also capitalised on 21 points off 13 Knicks turnovers.
After a challenging Game 2 in San Antonio, where he ended with an errant pass off a teammate’s back and a missed potential game-winner, Wembanyama said he had concentrated on resetting mentally. “Really tried to relax after Game 2. The playoffs, it’s like … a whirlwind. It’s hard to put your head out of the water,” he explained. “I need some time off, let my brain cool down.” He opened Monday’s contest with a visibly renewed energy, scoring nine points in his first nine minutes and setting the tone for the night.
The Spurs seized an 11-point lead in the first quarter before the Knicks roared back with a 42-24 second period, featuring a three-pointer from Jalen Brunson with 41 seconds left in the half that sent New York into the break ahead 64-57. Neither side could pull away in the third quarter, the largest lead being five points. But the pattern shifted decisively in the fourth.
Chants of “refs, you suck!” erupted from the Madison Square Garden crowd at least three times during the contest, and frustration with the officiating boiled over in the final period. New York were whistled for three fouls in the first 64 seconds of the fourth quarter and attempted only eight free throws in the second half, compared to the Spurs’ 24. Wembanyama ticked past 30 points as the Knicks’ supporting cast went cold: Brunson scored 12 points in the fourth, but his teammates managed just three field goals from 20 attempts. A pair of threes from Brunson and OG Anunoby briefly revived hope, but a countering triple from De’Aaron Fox and Castle’s free throws silenced the arena.
Brunson finished with 32 points and Anunoby added 28, but Karl-Anthony Towns — who had posted back-to-back double-doubles in San Antonio — managed only 11 points and eight rebounds on a quiet night. The 42 points New York conceded in the second quarter were the most they have allowed in these playoffs. “We’ve done our best to try to learn from wins over the past couple weeks. But now we have to learn from a loss,” Brunson said. “But I think the most important thing is that we are going to learn regardless, because we knew there were things that we were going to have to improve on going into next game. So mindset stays the same.”
Towns acknowledged the weight of the occasion. “Of course our fans brought it. Of course they lived up to the expectations. Exceeded them. We didn’t do our job to give them something to cheer for [during] the game,” he said.
High stakes and a celebrity crowd
Monday’s game carried an extraordinary atmosphere, fuelled by New York’s first home NBA finals fixture in 27 years — the last being Game 5 of the 1999 Finals, when the Knicks lost to the Spurs. The city has not won a championship since 1973, and the Knicks’ postseason run had carried an air of inevitability, built on Brunson’s clutch performances, Towns’ career-best form, and the team’s depth.
The occasion drew a high-profile audience. President Donald Trump, a longtime Knicks fan invited as a guest of team owner James Dolan, watched from a suite and received heavy boos when he appeared on the jumbotron during the national anthem. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani attended separately, saying earlier Monday he had paid about $1,000 for his standing-room-only ticket. Among the stars on celebrity row were Spike Lee, Timothée Chalamet, Ben Stiller, Tina Fey, Tracy Morgan and Larry David.
Security was heightened because of the president’s presence, leading to the cancellation of a planned outdoor watch party and traffic restrictions around Madison Square Garden. Fans were advised to arrive two hours early for enhanced screening. Resale ticket prices had dropped sharply from nearly $10,000 over the weekend to under $5,000 for “get-in” access, partly attributed to the security measures; the average ticket price for Game 3 was around $5,200, significantly higher than recent Super Bowls.
Wembanyama, who has a medical history that includes stress fractures, bone contusions, ankle sprains, and most recently deep vein thrombosis in his shoulder, reflected on the challenge of performing away from home. “At home it really feels like playing six against five. Here it feels like five against six,” he said with a smile. “It really shows what teams are made of.”
No NBA team has lost the first two games of the finals on its home floor and come back to win the championship, but the Spurs’ hopes of doing so remain alive.
