On an off day during the NBA Finals, San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama visited a park, sat on a bench, and sketched the statue standing in front of him on a piece of paper.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.He could’ve been in the Tuileries or Jardin du Luxembourg or Jardin du Palais Royal in his native France.But no, he was in New York City, trying to find some peace and quiet and reset his mind after the Spurs had fallen behind the New York Knicks 2-0 in the finals.“Really tried to relax,” Wembanyama later said.
“The playoffs, it’s like — I don’t know how to say that word — a whirlwind.It’s hard to put your head out of the water.” Sometimes he needed “some time off, let my brain cool down, recover,” he added.
“Recover as much for the body as for the mind.”On Monday night, that park seemed so far away as Knicks fans rained vulgarities down on Wembanayma and his teammates inside Madison Square Garden.The Spurs responded with their best game of the series, a 115-111 win that required lots of mental fortitude and, in the end, sent Knicks fans home quiet.00:39How much Knicks fans paid for NBA Finals tickets00:0000:00This was a stark difference to how the finals had begun.
In each of the first two games, the Spurs held double-digit leads, only to squander them away, while playing at home no less.Toward the end of Game 2 Wembanyama also committed a costly turnover, throwing an errant pass off the back of his teammate, Stephon Castle, when he wasn’t looking.
These seemed like the mistakes of a young team cracking under pressure, not ready for the bright lights.No game was expected to be bigger than Game 3, the first finals game at Madison Square Garden in 27 years.President Donald Trump was in attendance, and so were a slew of celebrities, business titans, and athletes.
Dylan Harper, a 20-year-old Spurs rookie, couldn’t help but look up at the video screen when ...