Tyler Rourke
Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs captured their first win of the 2026 NBA Finals on Monday night. After falling in the previous two contests to the New York Knicks, it was evident that the Spurs’ lack of experience was catching up to them.
After their 115-111 victory at Madison Square Garden, Wembanyama was straight to the point when noting what the difference maker was.
“Making fewer mistakes,” Wembanyama said in a postgame interview with Lisa Salters. He was quick to credit the poise of his two teammates, Stephon Castle and De’Aaron Fox. Both Spurs guards hit crucial shots down the stretch, solidifying the Spurs’ win.
The Spurs are the second youngest team in NBA history to reach the finals behind the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers. While they have extensive talent, experience in a situation goes a long way. Take, for example, the final seconds of Game 2. Wembanyama had a turnover leading to the Knicks’ victory.
San Antonio Spurs were FAR better with the ball in Game 3
To dive even deeper into this issue, let’s take a look at some numbers from the beginning of this series. In the first two games combined, the Spurs had 29 turnovers. In Monday night’s game, they had only eight. San Antonio forced just 19 combined turnovers in the first two games. Monday night, they forced the Knicks into 13 of them.
After two games, the Spurs cut down on their mistakes. A key area of improvement was utilizing Wembanyama on the roll, and not returning to his isolation outside of the paint. The shotmaking from both teams was phenomenal, but the Spurs guards’ ability to knock down shots stood out. Fox, Castle, Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell, and Julian Champagnie combined 22-of-46 from the field.
If the Spurs want to defy the odds and win this series, they will need more performances like these from players outside of Wembanyama. All Monday night, they trusted their outside shooting and recognized advantages in the paint. A lot of those times resulted in points on the board.
When a team this young plays this confidently and trusts the game plan, they cut down on mistakes. It was the key factor to their success and the reason they were able to win Game 3.
