“Wemby Took Care of Business!” – Knicks Fan Rich Reacts to Spurs-Knicks NBA Finals Game 3

Victor Wembanyama "took care of business" in Game 3 of the NBA Finals, and Rich, a lifelong Knicks fan, saw it coming. He had been warning Knicks fans for weeks, and he watched his own prophecy come true.

"I told all the Knicks fans this very thing," Rich said. "I said it from this seat after the Knicks came back from 22 down to beat the Cavs in game one of the Eastern Conference Finals." Back then, fans hit the streets chanting "we want Webby." Rich's response: "Be careful what you wish for, ladies and gents."

Sure enough, with the Finals back at Madison Square Garden after nearly a 30-year absence, Wembanyama showed up "with the proverbial vengeance," Rich said, "alleyooping and dunking and rebounding and blocking and assisting." The line: 32 points, eight rebounds, six assists, three blocks. "He showed up angry. He showed up defending. He showed up shoving."

Stephon Castle, back in his old Big East haunt, added 18 first-quarter points and five big ones down the stretch. The two combined for 55, the most they have managed together this postseason in a game that didn't go to overtime. De'Aaron Fox, Dylan Harper and Devin Vassell all showed up too.

But Rich gave Wembanyama only 10 points in the fourth quarter, and he made a point of it: down the stretch, it wasn't Wemby who closed the door. "It was Stephon Castle and De'Aaron Fox that brought him home." Rich walked through it: Castle's three from 26 feet with 2:22 to go, right after the Knicks cut it to four. Then Brunson's pull-up three that hit "nothing but the bottom of the net." Then Fox's "gorgeous 15-footer" to go up 113-108. Even an OG Anunoby corner three with Harper in his face couldn't flip it. Castle iced it from the line, the only second-half points he scored beyond that one three.

Wembanyama, who said he prepared by relaxing and letting his "brain cool down," was asked if he had become New York's newest villain. His answer: "I guess I'm nowhere near Trae Young level, though."

Rich's read on the loss was simple. The Knicks couldn't get into their sets fast enough against San Antonio's perimeter pressure, and when they finally broke through, there was Wembanyama. The whole night felt off to Rich from the jump. "The Spurs hit him in the mouth." A tight game, and the Knicks didn't get it done.