The Spurs' defense has been trying like hell to prove Becky Hammon right about Jalen Brunson, but their offense is betraying the work. San Antonio is down 0-2 in a series where the Knicks' best player looks like anything but. Generally, if you can take a team's best player out of a series, you stand a great chance at winning, but things haven't played out that way quite yet.
Brunson is averaging 25 points through two games in the NBA Finals, but he's shooting 28 times a night. New York's best offensive weapon and leader is only making 34% of his field goals and 28% of his threes. Those are horrific numbers. Despite that, the 53-win Knicks are beating what was touted as one of the best two teams in the league, alongside the Thunder.
Putting an end to it isn't a one-man job, but Victor Wembanyama has a lot to do with changing the trajectory of this series.
Wembanyama is evening out Brunson's struggle production
The Silver and Black's star is putting up 27 points per game in his first NBA Finals, but he's only making 40% of his baskets. That's unacceptable for a 7'4" center. Some of it can be attributed to New York's defense, but much of the blame must be placed at the feet of the man himself. He hasn't been aggressive enough early in these contests, and his lackadaisical approach to offense has hurt his team.
During the regular season and through significant playoff stretches, the Spurs have operated as a collective. It's not abnormal to see Wemby not be incredibly aggressive early in the game when viewed from a wider perspective, considering the rest of the campaign. But things change the higher you go in the postseason.
Stars are called upon to take hold of games if they want to control a series against the best teams in the league. Role players often become less effective, and the extra slack must be picked up somehow. Right now, the Knicks' secondary and tertiary guys are doing a little more to pull out these wins. But again, this is all moot if Wembanyama plays with more force early on.
Brunson and Wemby's struggles aren't nearly the same
The difference between the two struggling superstars is the reason why. Brunson is struggling because San Antonio's defense is a force. Their big guards and wings have done a tremendous job of cutting off his angles, and Wemby, as always, is the game-breaking defensive force protecting the paint. There's not much Brunson can do about his size disadvantage. It's not the same for Vic.
Wemby only took four shots in the first half of Game 2. He's spent way too much time standing on the perimeter. His problem is that he needs to dig deep to force the action on the inside a little more and stop settling. You can credit the defense for making him want to settle to some degree, but at the end of the day, it's on him to say, "No. You can't keep me out of the paint," and go down there anyway.
That doesn't mean trying to post up guys stronger than him. He doesn't have the strength for that yet. But posting up isn't the only way to get in the lane. This is a 22-year-old kid, so it's not all on him. Mitch Johnson and the rest of the Spurs' brilliant staff have done a great job of setting Wemby up for success all year.
They must figure out how to do it again on the biggest stage to stop Vic from playing Brunson's inefficiency to a standstill. It's killing the team's chances of completing an epic season with a championship.
