NEW YORK — Gotham always needs a villain.New York prefers someone to revile. Someone to rally against. This city is girded with grievances. The abysmal traffic. The absurd rent. The oppressive weather. The idiot tourist in the way on a busy sidewalk. The taxi darting across three lanes with no blinker. The neighbor who somehow got a better deal. This city wakes up looking for a place to put its fury.And because of New York’s significance as a city sitting at the center of so much American excellence, it attracts as much resentment as it does admiration. It makes New Yorkers a proud and protective people. That tension fuels New York’s character. Gives the city its charm, its toughness.It translates to their fandom. Fittingly, New York sports history is littered with villains. Tom Brady. Pedro Martinez. Sidney Crosby.And the Knicks? The one team that claims all of New York? The franchise New Yorkers love like family members? Their fans hated the guts of several opponents. Michael Jordan. Reggie Miller. Alonzo Mourning. Tyrese Haliburton joined the ranks a year ago.Monday, Knicks fans identified their next villain: Victor Wembanyama. They proclaimed him the antagonist of their Knicks’ glorious season by serenading him with their favorite four-letter word. All but a term of endearment when hurled at opposing superstars.If it felt as if this supposed disdain for Wembanyama came out of nowhere, that’s because it did. The bliss of 13 straight postseason wins by the Knickerbockers filled fans’ hearts with too much joy to be aggrieved. So inebriated off the invincibility of their beloved squad, they hadn’t bothered anointing a new villain.And then Wembanyama proceeded to deconstruct the Knicks: 32 points on 18 shots, eight rebounds, six assists and three blocks in 39 minutes. He took his show, a preview of his future dominance, onto the league’s biggest stage. Wembanyama’s first monster NBA Finals performance not only recalibrated the Spurs’ title hopes, lifting San Antonio to a 115-111 road win, it reminded Knicks fans this generational talent has the capacity to ruin their dream season.Monday, Wembanyama introduced the possibility of taking what looked to be the culmination of the Knicks’ magical season and crumbling it like a printed chapter of another New York heartbreak story.Fear arrived in Game 3. So, a villain he became.“I guess,” Wembanyama said before taking his typically long pause to gather his thoughts. “I’m nowhere near Trae Young level, though.”