Delusional or confident? Either way, San Antonio Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama is facing a lot of backlash for his bold prediction ahead of Game 5 of the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks.
When asked if the Spurs can join the Cleveland Cavaliers as only the second team to rally from a 3-1 Finals deficit, Wemby had an interesting response on Friday.
“Yeah, absolutely. Everybody thinks, everybody knows, we’re going to do it,” Wemby said of the mindset of his locker room entering a do-or-die Game 5 vs the Knicks.
The Frenchman urged his teammates to move past the Game 4 collapse — when they blew a historic 29-point lead — and take it one game at a time.
“We need to isolate that one game and take it one game at a time. It would be a mistake to waste our energy on multiple games. It’s one game at a time.”
“Everybody knows we’re gonna do it.”
“Everybody knows we are going to do it.”
Wemby Gets Called Out
Scores of fans on social media felt Wemby was being “disrespectful” to the Knicks, who’ve won 13 of their last 14 playoff games, with his comments.
“Tell him to check out the Knicks this postseason when it’s time to close out a series,” wrote one fan, highlighting the Knicks are 3-0 this postseason in closeout games.
“Either gonna be the best quote of all time or ultimate clownage,” wrote one fan.
“Wemby’s arrogance is the Spurs downfall,” warned another fan.
“Everybody knows u only talk when u up 18 but when the pressure turns up u choke FTs,” wrote one fan, highlighting Wemby’s late-game missed free throws in Game 4.
Several analysts and fans highlighted that Wemby’s quotes were actually misinterpreted, as he was referring to his team’s mindset and not “everybody” outside his locker room or in the general NBA landscape.
Wemby’s Quote Misinterpreted?
“If you watch the clip he’s talking about the team believing in themselves. “Everyone” means him and his teammates, not the general public. I swear yall just want to see every star NBA player burned on a stake for fun,” wrote one fan.
ESPN’s Tim Bontemps was not surprised by the Internet overreaction.
“This is where the internet is a stupid place,” he said on “Hoop Collective” podcast.
“He got asked, ‘How is everybody feeling coming off of this loss and how the groups feeling about coming back in the series?’ And he said: ‘Everybody thinks they’re going to come back and win the series.’
“What would everybody like Victor Wembanyama to say? ‘We’re screwed? We’re going to lose tomorrow by 30? The series is over?’
“Like what the hell are we talking about?”
Tim MacMahon offered more context to the quote, highlighting that Wemby was referring to his locker room, not “everybody” else outside it.
“The context is everybody on that team, not everybody in the world,” he said.
The Spurs enter Game 5 against the Knicks as 5.5-point favorites to force a Game 6 back in New York. However, one thing working against them is that Game 5 could feel like a Knicks home game, with reports suggesting that more than 50% of tickets have been purchased by fans travelling from New York and New Jersey. Furthermore, the Knicks have not lost an away fixture since Game 3 of the first round against the Atlanta Hawks. In nine away contests, they’ve outscored opponents by 19.0 points while shooting 40% from deep. That includes their opening two wins versus the Spurs in the NBA Finals.
Spurs Victor Wembanyama’s Bold Quote Draws Backlash Before Game 5 vs Knicks