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It's been a nightmare start to the 2026 NBA Finals for the San Antonio Spurs.
To the surprise of perhaps everyone outside of the underdog New York Knicks, the Spurs find themselves in a dreaded 0-2 hole after losing both of the first two games. Only five NBA teams have ever come back to win it all after finding themselves in the same situation. However, even that fact comes with an important caveat because the Spurs are down 0-2 after losing both of the first two games at home. To date, no team has ever come back to win the Larry O'Brien Trophy after losing Game 1 and Game 2 at home.
Put another way: Things are dire for the young Spurs and new franchise superstar Victor Wembanyama.
That's what made Wembanyama's reflection on how he handled overcoming the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals so interesting. According to the big man, he could've "been better at recovering from the high" of dethroning the 2025 NBA champions.
After seeing how the other Spurs have also played around Wembanyama in these finals so far, his quote says so much about why they are falling short. They're also not the first to suffer from this emotional phenomenon:
What Wembanyama is alluding to here is that the Spurs probably celebrated a bit too much after beating the Thunder. They used so much energy to win in seven games and got so caught up in the moment of taking down a rival team that they (understandably) set their sights on all season, that they might have taken their eye off the ball. They forgot that winning the Western Conference or simply eliminating the Thunder wasn't the ultimate goal, but that's definitely not how they celebrated both achievements.
So, when it came time to dig deep and play desperately for a championship against the Knicks, the Spurs let New York take that lane instead. The team that takes matters more seriously and digs deeper will almost always win, in any sport. That's what makes the Spurs' 0-2 series hole actually feel pretty deserved with all things considered. They didn't get "up" for the Knicks the way the Knicks got up for them.
To be sure, the Spurs wouldn't be the only recent NBA team to topple a team they had a bullseye on only to forget they had more games to play. In fact, it's arguably happened to each of the previous five teams to eliminate the most recent NBA champion in the playoffs.
In 2022, the Boston Celtics overcame the reigning champion Milwaukee Bucks in an emotional seven-game series, only to fall short to the Golden State Warriors in the finals. In 2023, the Los Angeles Lakers overcame the reigning champion Warriors in an emotional six-game series, only to get swept in the conference finals by the Denver Nuggets. In 2024, the Minnesota Timberwolves overcame the reigning champion Nuggets in an emotional seven-game series, only to lose convincingly to the Dallas Mavericks in the conference finals. In 2025, the Knicks overcame the reigning-champion Celtics in an emotional six-game series, only to fall to the Indiana Pacers in the conference finals. You get the idea.
Now, after overcoming the reigning champion Thunder in an emotional seven-game series, the Spurs are in serious danger of falling to the same unfortunate fate as their recent predecessors.
These finals are far from over. I personally wouldn't bet on the Spurs winning four of the next five games, with three of those games in New York, but I wouldn't be that shocked to see it, either. What I'm not shocked by is the Spurs not showing enough emotional maturity to remember they still had another series to play after beating the defending champs. You can't get too high on a playoff series win when it's not the ultimate goal. You just can't.
In all fairness to the Spurs, they weren't the first NBA team to do something like this, and they certainly won't be the last.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Wemby's "conference finals" quote is familiar reason for Spurs losing NBA Finals
Continue reading...
To the surprise of perhaps everyone outside of the underdog New York Knicks, the Spurs find themselves in a dreaded 0-2 hole after losing both of the first two games. Only five NBA teams have ever come back to win it all after finding themselves in the same situation. However, even that fact comes with an important caveat because the Spurs are down 0-2 after losing both of the first two games at home. To date, no team has ever come back to win the Larry O'Brien Trophy after losing Game 1 and Game 2 at home.
Put another way: Things are dire for the young Spurs and new franchise superstar Victor Wembanyama.
That's what made Wembanyama's reflection on how he handled overcoming the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals so interesting. According to the big man, he could've "been better at recovering from the high" of dethroning the 2025 NBA champions.
After seeing how the other Spurs have also played around Wembanyama in these finals so far, his quote says so much about why they are falling short. They're also not the first to suffer from this emotional phenomenon:
What Wembanyama is alluding to here is that the Spurs probably celebrated a bit too much after beating the Thunder. They used so much energy to win in seven games and got so caught up in the moment of taking down a rival team that they (understandably) set their sights on all season, that they might have taken their eye off the ball. They forgot that winning the Western Conference or simply eliminating the Thunder wasn't the ultimate goal, but that's definitely not how they celebrated both achievements.
So, when it came time to dig deep and play desperately for a championship against the Knicks, the Spurs let New York take that lane instead. The team that takes matters more seriously and digs deeper will almost always win, in any sport. That's what makes the Spurs' 0-2 series hole actually feel pretty deserved with all things considered. They didn't get "up" for the Knicks the way the Knicks got up for them.
To be sure, the Spurs wouldn't be the only recent NBA team to topple a team they had a bullseye on only to forget they had more games to play. In fact, it's arguably happened to each of the previous five teams to eliminate the most recent NBA champion in the playoffs.
In 2022, the Boston Celtics overcame the reigning champion Milwaukee Bucks in an emotional seven-game series, only to fall short to the Golden State Warriors in the finals. In 2023, the Los Angeles Lakers overcame the reigning champion Warriors in an emotional six-game series, only to get swept in the conference finals by the Denver Nuggets. In 2024, the Minnesota Timberwolves overcame the reigning champion Nuggets in an emotional seven-game series, only to lose convincingly to the Dallas Mavericks in the conference finals. In 2025, the Knicks overcame the reigning-champion Celtics in an emotional six-game series, only to fall to the Indiana Pacers in the conference finals. You get the idea.
Now, after overcoming the reigning champion Thunder in an emotional seven-game series, the Spurs are in serious danger of falling to the same unfortunate fate as their recent predecessors.
These finals are far from over. I personally wouldn't bet on the Spurs winning four of the next five games, with three of those games in New York, but I wouldn't be that shocked to see it, either. What I'm not shocked by is the Spurs not showing enough emotional maturity to remember they still had another series to play after beating the defending champs. You can't get too high on a playoff series win when it's not the ultimate goal. You just can't.
In all fairness to the Spurs, they weren't the first NBA team to do something like this, and they certainly won't be the last.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Wemby's "conference finals" quote is familiar reason for Spurs losing NBA Finals
Continue reading...
