SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Victor Wembanyama got blessed by nuns before the game, got the loudest ovation when the starters were announced, pumped his fist to the crowd a few times and generally seemed to enjoy his first taste of the NBA Finals.Until the ending.The French star had 26 points in his finals debut, though had to work for all of them — misfiring on 15 of his 21 shots from the field, some of them even hitting the top of the backboard, and seeing waves of New York defenders all game long. The worst part of all for Wembanyama, the best defensive player in the game, was seeing the Knicks score the game’s final 11 points and steal away home-court advantage with a 105-95 victory.“I was bad tonight,” Wembanyama said. “It’s not more complicated than that.”He said it calmly, without panic, very matter-of-factly. The Spurs lost a game. The series isn’t over. He’s not worried, yet.
“I would say that he definitely holds himself accountable,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “I expect he’ll learn a lot of things from tonight’s game and come out with a good approach in Game 2.”There’s been a history of that for both Wembanyama and the Spurs. They lost home-court advantage to Portland in Round 1 before winning the final three games of that series, lost home-court again to Minnesota in Round 2 after dropping Game 1, and didn’t even have the home-court edge against Oklahoma City in the Western Conference finals — a series where San Antonio trailed 2-1 and 3-2 before prevailing.
