SAN ANTONIO — Stephon Castle took a page out of James Harden’s playbook Thursday.
While, yes, the Knicks won Game 1 of the NBA Finals despite not being at their best, the Spurs’ young guard remained just as confident in his team.
“I think [Victor Wembanyama] said it best: I don’t think we have anything to be too worried about,” Castle said. “Obviously, we feel like we’re the better team. We didn’t play well, still had a chance to win.”
It was somewhat reminiscent of Harden saying he felt the Cavaliers were better than the Knicks after getting swept in the Eastern Conference finals. This is, of course, just one game.
But the Spurs had a 14-point lead in the third quarter and were at home, yet the Knicks outscored them by 17 points in the second half and won their franchise-record 12th consecutive playoff game.
They held Wembanyama in check, holding him to 6-of-21 shooting and forcing six turnovers. Wembanyama, who finished with 26 points, placed the blame on himself both after the loss and again Thursday.
He didn’t necessarily discredit the Knicks defense against him, but the 7-foot-4 Frenchman didn’t seem overly impressed by how they guarded him, either.
“It’s almost like I [don’t] have anything to figure out. It’s almost like I have to play normal, not even good,” he said. “It’s just like doing the right things is enough. When we play bad, when I play bad, is when we shoot ourselves in the foot. This is why I’m not worried. We’re going to be so much better. I’m going to be so much better.”
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson had a similar take on the series opener.
He felt San Antonio was uncharacteristically isolation-heavy on offense, relying on their talent instead of what has gotten them here. It led to only 16 assists and 43 3-point attempts, with the Spurs making just 11 of them.
“I think the way we played offensively in terms of a team and our brand, we didn’t play with the pass enough, we didn’t put enough pressure [on them], force the [ball] in the paint,” he said. “It led to a lot of making or missing shots, us trying to play with talent offensively instead of playing together and finding opportunities to take advantage of. New York gets a lot of credit for that. I think we have a lot of room for improvement on that moving forward.”
The Spurs, it should be noted, have been here before. They trailed the Thunder in the Western Conference finals and the Timberwolves in the series before that.
“We just need to play our game. We just need to be normal,” Wembanyama said. “We don’t need to do anything incredible.”
