Wembanyama left frustrated as Spurs collapse and he nears an automatic suspension

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It was a deeply frustrating night for San Antonio star Victor Wembanyama, who on Thursday morning suffered one of the most painful losses of his career and put himself in further trouble after moving one step closer to an automatic suspension. San Antonio led the Knicks by 27 points at halftime, but completely collapsed in the second half, with the Frenchman missing two crucial free throws and watching his teammates score only 30 points in the second half after putting up 76 in the first. "I can't explain what happened there," Wembanyama said. "There are two ways to deal with this now. The bad way would be to give in, the good way would be to give everything we have and try to get stronger from it. It was painful, we felt like we gave up our game, and that hurts."

The Frenchman was asked what changed in the second half. "We stopped moving the ball, we stopped executing. We're not going to blame each other now, we'll take responsibility, and then we'll do what we know how to do, and overcome these difficulties. We'll try to use this and get stronger."

For him, it was a night he will not forget.

In addition to the loss, Wembanyama was charged with his second unsportsmanlike foul of the playoffs in the 107:106 loss to New York in Game 4 of the NBA Finals. The Knicks now lead the series 1:3, and the Frenchman will need to be careful. After now accumulating three flagrant points in the current playoffs, Wembanyama is just one point away from an automatic suspension. His latest foul, which was classified as a Flagrant 1, came with 9:27 left in the third quarter, when his elbow struck Karl-Anthony Towns in the chin during a battle between the two near the three-point line.

The Frenchman had already collected two flagrant points earlier in the playoffs, after hitting Naz Reid of the Minnesota Timberwolves in the jaw with an elbow in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals. In that case, he was assessed a Flagrant 2 for excessive contact above the neck area and was ejected from the game. Even so, Wembanyama was not fined and did not receive any further punishment after that incident.

The Spurs star also came close to being called for another unsportsmanlike foul in Game 3 of the Finals, after he shoved Knicks guard Jalen Brunson to the floor. No foul was called during the game, but the league later reviewed the incident and determined that it was indeed a foul. However, the NBA decided not to upgrade the play to a flagrant foul. Wembanyama was asked how that would affect him, and replied: "Obviously I’ll have to be a bit more careful, but I don’t think it will change much."