Should the Knicks be worried after Victor Wembanyama halted their momentum? Here’s what history tells us

NEW YORK — Rarely has an all-time great — and we believe Victor Wembanyama has a chance to be one — been in the position that the San Antonio Spurs center found himself in between Games 2 and 3 of the 2026 NBA Finals: down 2-0 after a pair of home games.

Where he is now, though, trailing, 2-1, is quite familiar for a young superstar, and if history is any indication, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about Wembanyama’s Spurs.

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Only twice before has anyone fallen behind 2-0 at home in the championship series. Shaquille O’Neal’s Orlando Magic dropped the first two games to the Houston Rockets and were promptly swept from the 1995 NBA Finals, while Charles Barkley’s Phoenix Suns lost the opening two games of the 1993 NBA Finals, only to win Game 3 on the road, as the Spurs did against the New York Knicks on Monday. Barkley’s Suns pushed the best-of-seven set to six games but were ultimately defeated by Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls.

Neither O’Neal nor Barkley were the best player in their series. Those distinctions belonged to Hakeem Olajuwon and Jordan by a wide margin. As good as Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns have been for the Knicks, I think we can pretty comfortably say that Wembanyama — the 22-year-old phenomenon — is the best player in this series.

“I tell the guys it’s a seven-game series for a reason,” said Knicks coach Mike Brown on Monday. “They are a great team. They are well-coached. They have an iconic player. It’s not going to be easy. We have to keep trying to take one game, one possession at a time.”

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Which is why it was so surprising to see Wemby’s Spurs fall behind Brown’s Knicks 2-0.

Arguably, only six other times in NBA history has the best player in a series, making his first Finals appearance, fallen behind 2-0 (home or road). Has history taught us anything? It informs us Wembanyama, as the best player in this series, has a shot to flip the script.

And the Knicks understand that.

“We’ve consistently talked to each other about everything being 0-0,” said Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson, removing momentum from this equation. “Even now, it’s…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/should-the-knicks-be-worried-after-victor-wembanyama-halted-their-momentum-heres-what-history-tells-us-215628349.html

Author : Ben Rohrbach

Publish date : 2026-06-09 21:56:00

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