Victor Wembanyama knows this is just part of his NBA education. For the second time since coming to San Antonio, he and the Spurs are trailing in a playoff series.
He hopes they'll be quick studies.
The Spurs trail the Western Conference finals 2-1, after falling 123-108 to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night. It was San Antonio's second consecutive loss after winning Game 1 in a double-overtime classic.
And when Game 3 was done, Wembanyama — as he tends to do, even as a 22-year-old in his first playoff run — summed up the moment perfectly.
“It’s my first playoffs. It was the first playoffs for many of us," Wembanyama said. "Of course, there was going to be hard trials. It is to be expected. But now, we’re going to see what we’re made of.”
In other words, expect to see anything and everything the Spurs can muster when the series resumes with Game 4 in San Antonio on Sunday night.
Wembanyama's scoring numbers on Friday night were stellar again: 26 points in 39 minutes, during which the Spurs outscored the Thunder by four points. The problem was the other nine minutes, during which the Thunder outscored the Spurs by 19.
But Wembanyama — again, as he tends to do — found plenty of fault in his own game, after finishing with only four rebounds and three assists.
“I have trouble making my teammates better right now," Wembanyama said. "I should do better. My shooting splits aren’t terrible. I need to be more of a team player.”
He was asked what that means.
“Facilitate better, rebound the ball better," Wembanyama said. "Push their defense a little bit more, to fight further and see how much they’re willing to help off of my teammates and feed them.”
Wembanyama is averaging 29.3 points and 15 rebounds in the three games. But the Spurs clearly need more against the defending champions and San Antonio's best player knows it.
The question is how the Spurs — who started Friday on a 15-0 run, then got outscored by 30 the rest of the way — can get there. And that, he said, would be what Saturday's focus is about.
“I feel like each and every one of us has got to be better," Wembanyama said. "As a team, as an organization, there’s a lot of new experiences. We’re just going to have to find the answers.”
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