03/01/26 04:16:00
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03/01 16:14 CST Spurs' poor performance that ends 11-game winning streak leaves
Victor Wembanyama surprised
Spurs' poor performance that ends 11-game winning streak leaves Victor
Wembanyama surprised
By BRIAN MAHONEY
AP Basketball Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --- Victor Wembanyama was surprised. His San Antonio Spurs, who
were untouchable in February, were unsteady to start March.
San Antonio didn't respond well to the New York Knicks' defensive pressure
Sunday and had its 11-game winning streak snapped with a 114-89 loss.
The physical defense was nothing the Spurs hadn't seen before. So Wembanyama
expected the Spurs to stand up to it better at Madison Square Garden, but
instead they never recovered from the Knicks' 26-2 run in the first half.
"We gave them life," Wembanyama said. "We should have been better, especially
on that run in the first quarter."
The Spurs were 11-0 in February, becoming the first team in NBA history to go
unbeaten and score at least 110 points in every game while playing at least 10
in a month. It appeared they would keep on rolling when they raced to a 19-7
lead Sunday.
But the Knicks shut them down from there, changing the game with their big run
and holding the Spurs to their lowest point total of the season.
"I was surprised, yeah," Wembanyama said. "It feels like they're a good
basketball team, they are good actual basketball players. They're not the
nastiest, ugly team, you know? They're not an ugly team to watch but they made
our game ugly."
Wembanyama had 25 points, 13 rebounds and four blocked shots, bouncing back
offensively after getting held to 12 points in each of the last two games. But
he committed seven turnovers and blamed himself for playing too hesitantly,
especially with his 3-point shooting. He was 1 for 7 behind the arc.
He also said he made a mistake on a play that both he and Spurs coach Mitch
Johnson said was a pivotal one. The Spurs failed to come up with the rebound
when Knicks center Mitchell Robinson missed a free throw with San Antonio
leading 21-14 late in the first quarter. New York then finished the period with
an 8-0 run to take a lead and then poured it on early in the second.
Before that, Johnson said "the first 10 minutes roughly couldn't have gone
almost any better for us." Afterward, his team hardly resembled the one that
had surged into the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.
"I think if you watched us even a little bit this year, the best version of us
is fast, activity, space, pace," Johnson said, "whether that's ball movement,
body movement or a combination of. And at that point through that stretch we
were it felt like in quicksand a lot, both ways."
But Wembanyama quickly swatted away any panic after the Spurs' first loss since
Jan. 31 at Charlotte.
"No, I don't see any regression," the All-Star center said. "I think it's good
for us to see this kind of adversity."
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