NBA Finals: Wembanyama Keeps Spurs' Faith Alive: "We All Know We're Going to Do It"

Victor Wembanyama addressed the San Antonio Spurs during a practice day before Game 5 of the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks. Following the Game 4 loss and trailing 3-1 in the series, the French star spoke about the need to move past it, empty the tank, learn on the fly, and isolate the next game without wasting energy thinking beyond it.

Q. Let's get right to it. There's a pretty talked-about video out there of maybe some eggs thrown at you, and there's also another one of something that happened with the team bus leaving Madison Square Garden. How are these things affecting you? That's the question. How are you dealing with these incidents?

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: I want to say, I really didn't think much about it. I just saw that video of the eggs. I didn't see any other.

It's fine. It doesn't bother me. Obviously it's not right at all. But it doesn't upset me.

Q. And with the bus?

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: Yeah, we heard some things, yeah. I have no idea. I think it was a bottle because there was like water on the bus. I didn't see anything.

Q. Players always talk about maintaining a 0-0 mentality in these situations. It's much easier said than done. On a personal level, what specific things do you do, whether it's meditation, extra reps, pre-game ritual, to focus?

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: I feel like the same routine as always, but taken even further, you know? We're at this point in the season where, yeah, we can take some time away from anything else we do and put it into performance.

We're at that point where we can really empty the tank.

Q. When you went back to watch that game, the second half, were there things individually that you saw and that you could have done differently? Also, the other night you mentioned greed. Could you explain a bit more what you meant by that?

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: Of course, there were a thousand ways we could have not lost that game.

I felt like there was a time to process it, to really go over it. But not anymore.

Yeah, of course, absolutely, greed. I guess the general idea would be, like, giving them fewer opportunities instead of doing something incredible.

Q. What's occupied your thoughts more these last few days, the way Game 4 slipped away or the fact that you've won one of these games and had excellent chances in the other three? You could have won them all.

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: Yeah, I mean, you said it all. We have a lot of confidence, but yeah, I wouldn't say it was that hard to shake off, right? Harder than any other game before, by far, for sure.

I mean, we've moved past it now. It's the playoffs. There's no time to dwell too much.

Q. How much do you think fatigue was a factor for you down the stretch of that game?

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: Fatigue?

Q. Yeah.

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: It definitely was a factor. But it's the playoffs. Everyone is equally tired. I mean, it shouldn't even be a factor in the game. Now we have two days between games. It's not going to be a factor.

Q. It seemed like they had more success in the second half getting you involved in the action. How do you approach that kind of back-and-forth, that cat-and-mouse game of needing to stay back but being pulled into the action?

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: Sometimes it feels like, if they're going to spend that much energy trying to put us in a certain position, at the end of the day there's still no mismatch. It's not necessarily bad. I don't think it was really a reason why we lost that game.

Q. What's on your mind when you see the large number of Knicks fans who will probably come tomorrow? That also means probably a lot of those tickets were sold by some of those people. Is that a concern for you?

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: No, it's not a concern. I mean, we have good defense here with the crowd.

Q. Before the series, you and a lot of the guys talked about hoping that your inexperience at this point wouldn't be a disadvantage, maybe it could be a strength because you're naive to their challenges. What have you learned in the last few days about what Finals experience is like?

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: A lot of things. A lot of things. In the Finals, in all the playoffs…

I felt like we haven't skipped any steps because we've made almost every mistake we could have made, and we've learned from them.

I'm counting on the fact that we're going to learn before this series ends and apply it.

Q. As for the bond between you and Mitch, how has it grown during this playoff run?

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: Oh, so much. So much. He understands people very well and knows how to talk to them. I'm not an exception. He knows how to talk to me.

During the game, it feels like non-verbal communication as much as verbal, because sometimes there's a lot of noise, sometimes we're far apart. He knows what I need. He knows what I need to get to. I also know what he needs, what signals he needs.

We've grown so much in that sense.

Q. I know you're taking it game by game. I imagine that, to attack that game the way you need to, your group needs to believe you can still do it. The other night you said the loss would either divide you or unite you. Do you have the sense that the group really believes you can pull it off?

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: Yeah, absolutely. Everyone thinks, everyone knows, that we're going to do it.

I don't know if I agree with you. I feel like we need to isolate that game and take it game by game.

I think it would be a mistake to spend our energy on multiple games. It's one game at a time.