The San Antonio Spurs had a tough night against the New York Knicks, recording another on-road loss this season. The Knicks overwhelmed the Spurs with a 126-105 scoreline, raising several questions on the No. 1 draft pick Victor Wembanyama’s prowess that night. Though Wemby could add 14 points to the Spurs’ score, his performance wasn’t enough to hand the Spurs a win at Madison Square Garden.
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Being the number one pick of this year’s draft, the expectations for Wembanyama are quite high. The 19-year-old is now seen as the new face of the league, which adds to the pressure he has to face to level to such a high bar. On Gil’s Arena Show, Gilbert Arenas and Kenyon Martin dissected why Wemby faced challenges in winning games in the league.
There is no doubt that Wemby, indeed, is a generational talent. However, surrounding such hype around his prowess, teams and players are leveling up further to face him and the Spurs. As Kenyon Martin and Gilbert Arenas said, the Spurs are expected to face the A-Game of every defender when Wemby is on the floor. Adding to this, Arenas said,
“He’s the new face. So you know, people are going to take that challenge to heart. And that’s when he is going to have to realize that every game, you are going to have to come to show your dominance. Because, every game, you’re playing against everybody’s A+. No, you’re not going to no arena where the person that’s defending you is giving you a C or B minus. He’s going to come and give you the best game of his life defensively.”
Indeed, as Agent Zero and Kenyon Martin pointed out, Wemby’s debut at the MSG wasn’t as good as expected. The 7’3″ rookie missed his first seven shots and had more airballs than field goals through three quarters. All this while, the Knicks were leading by as much as 30 points.
Victor Wembanyama’s MSG debut wasn’t as good as expected
Victor Wembanyama wasn’t perhaps at his best form facing the New York Knicks this Wednesday. After ruining James Harden’s Los Angeles Clippers debut, the Knicks overwhelmed the Spurs with a 126-105 scoreline.
The Knicks stars Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle put up an excellent show for the fans to grab this win. Brunson dropped 25 points for the Knicks, while RJ Barrett and Julius Randle added 24 points, six assists, and 23 points and 16 rebounds, respectively. While Wemby struggled to get past the Knicks’ defense and was on the free-throw line, he was seen getting increasingly frustrated with “overrated” chants from the MSG crowd.
Wemby could only score 14 points, 2 assists, and 9 rebounds during his 30 minutes on the court. However, despite such tantalizing pressure and hype surrounding him, veterans such as Kenyon Martin believe it’s normal for rookies to have bad games as such.
In a level of assurance to the young rookie, Coach Gregg Popovich, in a post-game interview, said,
“He’s a 19-year-old rookie who’s just learning about the NBA — of course, it’s a learning experience.”
