{"id":409889,"date":"2026-06-05T06:12:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T06:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/?p=409889"},"modified":"2026-06-05T06:12:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T06:12:17","slug":"spurs-need-victor-wembanyama-to-play-big-on-both-ends-of-the-floor-in-game-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/2026\/06\/05\/spurs-need-victor-wembanyama-to-play-big-on-both-ends-of-the-floor-in-game-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Spurs need Victor Wembanyama to play big on both ends of the floor in Game 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Knicks, meanwhile, will likely stick to late offense while the glass should continue to be a battleground for both teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Victor Wembanyama shot just 6-for-21 (29%) in Game 1, his third worst shooting performance of the season.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

SAN ANTONIO \u2014<\/strong>\u00a0Both the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs probably think that they can play much better than they did in Game 1 of\u00a0the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Knicks won, but it was\u00a0their worst offensive game\u00a0of the playoffs. For the Spurs, it was their third-worst offensive game of the entire season (102 games total). New York\u2019s shot quality was relatively low, while San Antonio\u2019s results (makes and misses).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was an intense and exciting game, just the fifth Knicks game in these playoffs that was within five points in the last five minutes. But there\u2019s a good chance that we won\u2019t get anything nearly as clunky going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are three things to watch in Game 2 on Friday (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC<\/strong>):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Wembanyama playing bigger<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Victor Wembanyama shot just 6-for-21 (29%) in Game 1, his third-worst shooting performance (with a minimum of 15 shots) of the season. Only nine (43%) of those 21 shots came in the paint, down from 58% in the regular season. Most of those shots in the paint were well contested, and he made just four of the nine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting Wembanyama easier shots near the rim is easier said than done, especially against a physical team like the Knicks that prioritizes rim protection over defending the perimeter. Pick-and-rolls aren\u2019t going to lead to easy lobs, because weak-side defenders aren\u2019t allowing him to go untouched as he rolls to the rim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But they can lead to him establishing good post position as his defender recovers back \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Even if he gets bumped by another defender, he can still beat his man to the restricted area, plant himself near the basket and command the ball and\/or a double-team. In Game 1, we also saw him just drift away from the basket when he had similar opportunities \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Spurs need the 7-foot-4 guy to play big on both ends of the floor. And we should expect him to be more determined to do so in Game 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

2. Knicks working late<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Knicks \u201cwant to play fast,\u201d according to head coach Mike Brown. Almost always, early offense is better than late offense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in Game 1, there was a lot of late offense for the Knicks, who took 34 shots in the last seven seconds of the shot clock. That\u2019s tied for the sixth-most field-goal attempts in the last seven seconds for any team in any game this season (regular season, Play-In and playoffs), and it included 12 of their 22 shots in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Spurs took the lead when the Knicks went scoreless on six straight possessions in the fourth, with all six of those possessions ending with missed shots late in the clock. Overall, the Knicks shot 9-for-34 (26%), including 3-for-12 from 3-point range, in the last seven seconds of the clock on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Somehow, that was good enough. And Jalen Brunson put the game away with their final late-clock shot of the night, a ridiculous fadeaway against Devin Vassell in the final minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

No team wants to be playing late in the clock as much as the Knicks did in Game 1. But no team is more comfortable working late than the Knicks. Among 67 players with at least 300 field-goal attempts in the last seven seconds of the shot clock over the last two seasons (regular season and playoffs), the Knicks\u2019 five starters rank third, fifth, sixth, 10th and 12 in late-clock effective field-goal percentage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Highest effective FG%, last 7 seconds of the shot clock, last 2 seasons<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Includes regular season, Play-In and playoffs
Minimum 300 FGA (67 players)
eFG% = (FGM + (0.5 * 3PM)) \/ FGA<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other end of the floor, only 12 of the Spurs\u2019 89 shots in Game 1 came in the last seven seconds of the shot clock. If anything, they don\u2019t want to be in such a rush to shoot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think for the most part just we didn\u2019t make the extra pass as much as we usually do,\u201d Stephon Castle said Thursday. \u201cWe kind of settled a lot more than we usually do. I think Coach preaches a lot \u2014 try and find better each possession, try and find the best shot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Knicks have now played four games against the Spurs and three of those games account for three of the seven times that the Knicks have taken at least 29 shots in the last seven seconds of the clock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So expect more late offense in Game 2 on Friday, when the Knicks\u2019 ability to execute in the final few seconds of the shot clock could determine whether or not they head back to New York with a 2-0 lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

3. Switching and the glass<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Spurs had more offensive rebounds (14) than the Knicks (10) in Game 1. But while all offensive rebounds lead to second chances, all second chances don\u2019t come from offensive rebounds. (They also come from loose-ball fouls or rebounds than go out of bounds off the defense.) And second-chance points were 23-14 in favor of the Knicks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Spurs switched ball-screens pretty liberally on Wednesday, and that often led to mismatches for Karl-Anthony Towns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early in the second quarter, Wembanyama switched a Towns screed for Jose Alvarado, leaving De\u2019Aaron Fox on Towns. The Knicks\u2019 big man took Fox into the paint and drew help, which led to a catch-and-shoot 3 for Miles McBride \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Late in the second, Wembanyama switched a Towns screen for Brunson and successfully defended the ensuing isolation (another late-clock shot). But Towns took Castle into the paint and drew a loose-ball foul, leading to two free throws \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Spurs will continue to switch, and the switching is what can often lead to those late-clock situations, because the Knicks aren\u2019t gaining early advantages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve switched that ball screen with me on the ball all year,\u201d Castle said. \u201cIt\u2019s been successful for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the advantage could come after the initial shot, and the glass will continue to be a battleground throughout this series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Knicks, meanwhile, will likely stick to late offense while the glass should continue to be a battleground for both teams. SAN ANTONIO \u2014\u00a0Both the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs probably think that they can play much better than they did in Game 1 of\u00a0the NBA Finals. The Knicks won, but it was\u00a0their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12903],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-409889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-12903"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409889"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":409897,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409889\/revisions\/409897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}