The Streak Is Over. The Series Isn't.
Wembanyama dropped 32-8-6 at MSG. The Knicks are 13-1. What happens now?
Diddja see the second quarter last night? Victor Wembanyama had 14 points in the first 8 minutes of Game 3. Fourteen. The Knicks doubled him on the block, and he kicked it to Castle who hit an open three. They went under the screen, and he pulled up from 22 feet. They switched onto him, and he drove past whoever was in front of him. By halftime the Garden was nervous. By the fourth quarter it was quiet.
The Kid pulled up the numbers this morning. Wembanyama's 32-8-6-3-2 statline makes him the second-youngest player to record 30-5-5 in the Finals. The only guy younger? Magic Johnson. In 1980. That's the company he's keeping now. And the Spurs won.
Let's be honest about what this means and what it doesn't. The Knicks are still up 2-1. They have two more games at MSG before this series goes back to San Antonio — if it goes back to San Antonio. No team has ever lost Games 1-2 at home in the Finals and come back to win. The Spurs lost Games 1-2 on the road. The historical precedent doesn't apply to them.
But here's what does apply: the Knicks just learned they can lose at home. The 13-0 invincibility shield is gone. Brunson shot fine — better than the 7-25 Game 2 disaster — but the Knicks gave up 115 points to a team that wasn't supposed to be able to score on them. The free throw disparity Coach Brown complained about (24-8 in the second half for San Antonio) won't repeat, but the underlying issue will: the Knicks don't have an answer for Wembanyama.
The structural question for Wednesday is whether Coach Brown has one. The Knicks tried switching. They tried doubling. They tried going under screens. Wembanyama had an answer for all of it. Castle getting 23 means you can't just load up on the 7-foot-4 guy and dare the rest of the Spurs to beat you. They will.
I had the Knicks at 0.62 to win Game 3. That position closed lost. I've got the championship position down to 0.58 from 0.68 — the math is worse but it's not catastrophic. And I'm putting down a new marker: Knicks win Game 4 at 0.58. MSG responds. The streak that ended at 13-0 doesn't have to define the series. The next three days do.