How the Knicks attacked (behind) Victor Wembanyama to put New York one win away from NBA title

Have you recovered from last night yet?

I wouldn’t blame you if you haven’t.

Wednesday night’s Game 4 — a 107-106 victory for the New York Knicks to take a commanding 3-1 series lead — was either one of the most thrilling or heartbreaking experiences in recent memory.

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There was something poetic about this one. The Knicks had their historic 13-game win streak snapped in Game 3 to set the stage; the San Antonio Spurs had a historic 3-point binge in the first half of Game 4, leading by as many as 29 points with a little over three minutes to go in the second quarter. The Knicks had to make even more history to erase that deficit and ultimately put themselves a win away from achieving their ultimate goal.

There are plenty of storylines to follow here — Brunson’s shot-making from the second quarter onward, OG Anunoby’s heroic two-way effort that culminated in the game-winning tip-in, Jose Alvarado’s we-need-everything-you-do run in the second half for starters — but I want to, once again, centralize things with the 7-foot-4 guy.

The Knicks didn’t just find their offense in the second half: for large stretches, they actively looked for Victor Wembanyama — the game’s most impactful defender, utmost rim deterrent, and general freak (complimentary) of nature — to do so.

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This is not going to be a “Wemby is a FRAUD” piece — you can click the “X” now if that’s what you’re looking for — but it is fascinating how, and how often, the Knicks landed on Wemby as the answer to their earlier offensive ills.

There’s a general choose-your-poison when it comes to Wemby. If you leave him alone, you may be able to get into your action easier, but that action may only go so far while Wemby works to wall off the rim — my guy Steve Jones has been on it from the jump about his presence and communication.

If you choose to attack him directly, you have to navigate all 7-4 and however-long-the-wingspan-actually-is of him. But if you’re able to engage him high enough on the floor, you can potentially open things up behind him.

Teams just haven’t been able to consistently…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/how-the-knicks-attacked-behind-victor-wembanyama-to-put-new-york-one-win-away-from-nba-title-235927326.html

Author : Nekias Duncan

Publish date : 2026-06-11 23:59:00

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