Hall of Famer Charles Barkley believes New York Knicks‘ Karl-Anthony Towns has “owned” San Antonio Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama through the first two games of the NBA Finals.
“Wemby’s in shock right now,” Barkley said after the Knicks pulled off a 105-104 win to seize a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals against the Spurs.
“It’s probably been a long time since he got his a** kicked like this… Wemby’s spinning — he’s throwing the ball all over the place. It’s a shock to his system.
“…He is so flustered right now,” Barkley said of Wemby. “He’s 22. He’s gonna own the league soon, but right now he is being owned.
“Big KAT is just taking his a** to the woodshed. Plain and simple.”
KAT Dominates Wemby Again
Further to Barkley’s point, Towns has outplayed Wemby on both ends of the floor through the first two games of the NBA Finals. In Game 1, he held the Frenchman to 2-of-12 shooting as the primary defender and shot 4-of-6 on the other end of the floor.
In Friday’s Game 2, Wemby had a better showing with 29 points and nine rebounds, but he allowed KAT to shoot 8-of-12 from the field and was totally outhustled and out-rebounded — especially in key moments of the game. KAT also had three offensive boards when Wemby was on the floor — asserting himself physically over the youngster.
After the game, Wemby admitted that KAT was giving him problems, unlike Chet Holmgren, his primary matchup in the previous series.
“It’s very different from previous series,” he said. “It’s bringing us into difficult areas because they’re good players, he’s a good player. We need to figure it out.”
Wemby Makes Crucial Mistakes
Although the Spurs went on a late 13-0 run to claw back into the game, Wemby committed a costly turnover with 12.7 seconds left that cost his team the game. The Frenchman threw an erratic pass to Stephon Castle, but the ball bounced off the back of the Spurs guard and into Jalen Brunson’s waiting hands. Wemby then made another mistake by quickly fouling Brunson, even though the scores were tied at 104. Brunson would sink both his free throws to put the Knicks up by two, icing the win.
Wemby rued his late mistakes after the loss.
“That’s the most frustrating thing: to throw it away after putting in all this work,” Wembanyama said, via ESPN’s Michael C. Wright.
“I threw that one away. I messed up. It’s like the body reacts quicker than the mind. We needed to win that game. This game was ours. But at this point it’s done. Am I going to regret it? Yes, of course. Am I going to use that to fuel me and fuel us to the next game? Absolutely.”
The Spurs are trying to become the first team ever to lose the first two home games in the NBA Finals and then rally to win it all. They enter Game 3 against the Knicks as 1.5-point underdogs, per DraftKings.
‘KAT is Kicking His A**!’ Barkley Drops Explicit Truth Bomb On Victor Wembanyama