The San Antonio Spurs prevented the New York Knicks from taking an insurmountable lead in the Finals with their Game 3 win behind enemy lines. They came out playing with a higher level of force and much of it had to do with the team’s blazing shooting, and Victor Wembanyama (32 points, eight rebounds, six assists) being a destructive force on defense. Their third-quarter storm matched their early intensity, trickling over into the final stretch.
Despite the offense having its dry spells, it still
was very effective, particularly in the half court. Additionally, one of the main reasons for their win was not getting careless with the ball for most of the night and the extra hustle at key moments bailing them out. Stephon Castle was a man possessed in the first half (23 points, five rebounds, five assists), and then Wembanyma stepped up with the game in the balance, hitting big shots and rejecting them, too.
Observations
- Wembanyama’s early burst had to do with him working more at close range off catches. Switching it up made him work less hard and put extra pressure on New York’s defense. Then Karl-Anthony Towns made it tougher for him as the game went on, and the Knicks also tightened up their coverages to allow fewer clean passes to Wemby on the inside. Still, he countered with successful shooting at the rim and arc.
- The first two non-Wemby minutes were a critical part of the game because the Spurs didn’t give up much ground in part by not falling apart offensively. They were only outscored by one point after both stretches of the first half, and then Luke Kornet did a nice job as Wemby rested in the third.
- The Spurs had shaky moments, like early in the second quarter when they committed two bad fouls that derailed rhythm, and the period then turned into a Knicks avalanche while the Spurs couldn’t make a field goal in the last three minutes. The Knicks scored 42 points on 73.7 percent shooting in that span.
- Julian Champagnie has been the Spurs’ only consistent deep threat in the Finals, and this time he got some help from Devin Vassell (11 points on 75 percent 3-point shooting). The team cooled down eventually from deep, but their early marksmanship made it up for their spotty free throw shooting.
- Castle’s paint strikes helped set the mood. He was making them when not much else was falling for the team, and he was carrying them during the non-Wemby minutes. He still had some mistakes but played more in control and his late 3-pointer in the fourth was the best biggest shot of his career.
- The valiant effort in the third quarter showed a lot of the team’s real character. The public was waiting to see how they’d handle adversity after losing the first home games, and they could have rolled over, and many teams probably would have there, but they didn’t. Wembanyama and Champagnie deserve the most credit for keeping the offense going in that span with three baskets apiece.
- De’Aaron Fox, despite his seven assists at the time, and Keldon Johnson, hadn’t done much in the game, but were on the floor at the start of the fourth and helped add to the lead by the first substitution of the period. Their stats won’t impress anyone, but they gave it their all on defense and those were crucial minutes that helped swing the game. Further more, Fox also hit the biggest shot of his career, breaking down to the left side for a 15-footer to put the Spurs up five with 12.2 seconds left.
