The San Antonio Spurs are one loss away from seeing their championship hopes end, but Victor Wembanyama made it clear Friday that confidence remains intact inside the locker room despite New York’s stunning Game 4 comeback.
Speaking ahead of Game 5 of the NBA Finals, Wembanyama repeatedly returned to themes of resilience, learning from mistakes, and maintaining focus after the Knicks erased a 29-point deficit to take a 3-1 series lead with a 107-106 victory at Madison Square Garden.
Asked whether incidents involving Knicks fans — including a viral video showing eggs thrown in his direction and reports of objects hitting the Spurs’ team bus — had affected him, Wembanyama brushed them aside.
“I didn’t really think much of it,” he said. “I just saw that one video of the eggs. I didn’t see any other one, but it’s okay. I don’t dislike it. Obviously, it’s not good at all, but it doesn’t bother me.”
The 62-win Spurs appeared in complete control of Game 4 before New York mounted one of the largest comebacks in NBA playoff history. Wembanyama acknowledged the loss lingered longer than most.
“We’re very confident, but yeah, the game I wouldn’t say it was so hard to shake off, right? But harder than any other game before by far for sure,” he said. “But I mean now we’re over it. It’s the playoffs. There’s no time to regret things for too long.”
The Spurs star admitted there were countless opportunities to prevent the collapse.
“Of course, there were a thousand ways we could have not lost that game,” Wembanyama said. “It felt like there was a time to process that and to really dwell on it, but not anymore.”
He also expanded on comments he made after Game 4 about “greediness,” explaining that the solution is often simpler than chasing spectacular plays.
“Absolutely greediness,” Wembanyama said. “I mean, at the same time, I guess the general theme would be like giving them less opportunities rather than doing something incredible.”
San Antonio was outscored 58-30 in the second half Wednesday and watched the Knicks complete a comeback capped by OG Anunoby’s tip-in with 1.2 seconds remaining. Wembanyama finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds but shot 9-for-25 from the field.
Fatigue became a talking point after the collapse, but Wembanyama refused to use it as an excuse.
“Definitely a factor, but it’s the playoffs,” he said. “Everybody’s just as tired and it shouldn’t even be a factor in the game. Now we got two days in between games. It’s not going to be a factor.”
The 7-foot-4 star also downplayed suggestions that New York’s efforts to pull him away from the basket defensively created major problems.
“Sometimes it feels like if they’re going to spend so much energy trying to put us in a certain position, at the end of the day, there’s still no mismatch,” Wembanyama said. “So, it’s not necessarily bad. I don’t think it was really a reason why we lost the game.”
With Knicks fans expected to travel well for Game 5 in San Antonio, Wembanyama was equally unfazed.
“No, it’s not a concern,” he said. “I mean, we got good defense here in the crowd.”
Perhaps the most revealing comments came when Wembanyama reflected on the Spurs’ playoff journey. San Antonio survived a seven-game Western Conference finals against Oklahoma City and now faces its toughest challenge yet.
“It felt like we haven’t skipped any steps because we’ve made almost every mistake we could have possibly done and we’ve learned from them,” he said. “So, I’m counting on the fact that we’re going to learn before this series is over and apply.”
Despite trailing 3-1 against a Knicks team seeking its first title since 1973, Wembanyama insisted belief remains strong.
“Yeah, absolutely,” he said when asked whether the Spurs still believe they can win the series. “Everybody thinks everybody knows we’re going to do it.”
Yet he immediately returned to the message that has defined San Antonio’s approach throughout the postseason.
“I feel like we need to isolate that one game and take it one game at a time,” Wembanyama said. “I think it’d be a mistake to waste our energy on different, you know, on multiple games. It’s one game at a time.”
