Victor Wembanyama and Spurs have been performing highly this season. They are firmly in the Western Conference playoff race, sitting at the second seed in the conference, and within striking distance of the Oklahoma City Thunder for the top seed. But the Knicks were able to figure out how to cool down a hot San Antonio squad.
It appears that teams will choose to get physical with Wembanyama to take him off his game, as the Pistons attempted to show in their loss last Monday. This time, it appeared that the Knicks were able to crack the winning formula with their aggressive defensive coverage and Wembanyama recognized this in postgame comments received by Hector Ledesma.
"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 made it clear that the Knicks gameplan impressed him and it was something he was aware of.
"They're a good basketball team, but they're not like the worst team. They're not an ugly team to watch, but they've made our game ugly."
Still, Vembanyama doesn't think the team is going backward.
"I don't see any downside. I think it's good for us to see such adversity. We want to play the best teams. This is a top-seeded playoff team – experience. They know what it's like, and they gave us a good performance today."
