As the NBA world reacts to the New York Knicks breaking Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs' 11-game winning streak, ESPN's Brian Windhorst sees it as a warning to fans. Wembanyama and the Spurs' crushing 114–89 loss to the Knicks ended a long winning streak, but also put San Antonio's weaknesses on full display.
Spurs never recovered from 19-0 Knicks run in the second quarterThat reminded some of his inexperience, Windhorst said, according to ESPN's First Take.
Windhorst said, "I'm not going to overreact to the afternoon's game at the Garden. If you're making the case why Spurs won't win, you saw it yesterday." "When the Knicks threw some punches at them they couldn't handle it. It was a 19-0 run in the second quarter. You're not going to win a playoff game when you give up a 19-0 run on the road. So, you see things like that."
The Spurs also finished 9-for-34 from beyond the 3-point arc (26.5%) against the Knicks.
"They are still, as a team, inconsistent on 3-point shots. When they get to the playoffs, opposing teams, when they've got a fully fleshed out game plan for a playoff series, they're going to force them to take threes. And they want Victor Wembanyama to take threes. They're still a bottom 10 3-point percentage shooting team. Whether you like it or not, the NBA is still 3-point. League.”
“If you're making the case why Spurs won't win, you saw it yesterday.”
—@WindhorstESPN On the concerns over the Spurs' NBA title hopes 👀 pic.twitter.com/EDFohIBK2g
- First Tech (@FirstTech) 2 March 2026
Brian Windhorst says 3-point shooting and experience are glaring weaknesses for the Spurs.
Victor Wembanyama's confession after Spurs defeat
Spurs All-Star Victor Wembanyama took responsibility for Sunday's 25-point loss to the Knicks. While admitting that the Knicks' defense prevented them from finding their offensive rhythm, Wembanyama also said that he wished he would have passed the ball more, as the Spurs were in a heavy deficit.
"I think they had some physicality, but not what we've seen... For some reason, we were a little hesitant... I was especially hesitant on threes... I was holding the ball too much... We gave them a breather. We should have been better, especially in the first quarter. That was the game."
Wembanyama finished with 25 points on 8-for-17 shooting, 13 rebounds and four blocks in Sunday's loss.
