Should the Knicks be worried after Victor Wembanyama halted their momentum? Here's what history tells us

NEW YORK — Rarely has an all-time great — and we believe Victor Wembanyama has a chance to be one — been in the position that the San Antonio Spurs center found himself in between Games 2 and 3 of the 2026 NBA Finals: down 2-0 after a pair of home games.

>Where he is now, though, trailing, 2-1, is quite familiar for a young superstar, and if history is any indication, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about Wembanyama's Spurs.

>Only twice before has anyone fallen behind 2-0 at home in the championship series. Shaquille O'Neal's Orlando Magic dropped the first two games to the Houston Rockets and were promptly swept from the 1995 NBA Finals, while Charles Barkley's Phoenix Suns lost the opening two games of the 1993 NBA Finals, only to win Game 3 on the road, as the Spurs did against the New York Knicks on Monday. Barkley's Suns pushed the best-of-seven set to six games but were ultimately defeated by Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls.

>Neither O'Neal nor Barkley were the best player in their series. Those distinctions belonged to Hakeem Olajuwon and Jordan by a wide margin. As good as Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns have been for the Knicks, I think we can pretty comfortably say that Wembanyama — the 22-year-old phenomenon — is the best player in this series.

>"I tell the guys it's a seven-game series for a reason," said Knicks coach Mike Brown on Monday. "They are a great team. They are well-coached. They have an iconic player. It's not going to be easy. We have to keep trying to take one game, one possession at a time."

>Which is why it was so surprising to see Wemby's Spurs fall behind Brown's Knicks 2-0.

>Arguably, only six other times in NBA history has the best player in a series, making his first Finals appearance, fallen behind 2-0 (home or road). Has history taught us anything? It informs us Wembanyama, as the best player in this series, has a shot to flip the script.

>And the Knicks understand that.

>"We've consistently talked to each other about everything being 0-0," said Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson, removing momentum from this equation. "Even now, it's 0-0."

>Best to treat it that way, for fear of losing his grip on this series.

Victor Wembanyama #1 of the San Antonio Spurs reacts during the second quarter against the New York Knicks in Game Three of the 2026 NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden on June 08, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Dustin Satloff/Getty Images)Dustin Satloff via Getty Images2024: Boston Celtics 4, Dallas Mavericks 1Luka Dončić's Mavericks lost the first two games of the 2024 NBA Finals to the Celtics on the road, lost Game 3 at home, avoided the sweep in Game 4 and lost the series 4-1. Which is why San Antonio's Game 3 win was so vital. A 3-0 hole is a lot different than 2-1.

>Was Dončić the best player in those Finals? Debatable. He certainly didn't play like it. Both Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum outperformed the ex-Mavs superstar in the series.

>Could Brunson and Towns do the same? Sure, they could. But Wembanyama is averaging 29 points (on 47/32/83 shooting splits), 9.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 3.3 blocks and 1.7 steals so far in this set. To topple him, the Knicks must be the better team, and they may be that.

>It would be hard to say the Knicks didn't have momentum through Game 2 of this series, winning 13 straight — the second-longest streak in playoff history — but if we recognize that, we must also acknowledge that Wembanyama halted said momentum on Monday.

>Can the Spurs carry the momentum forward into Wednesday's Game 4?

>"You can feel a certain way about it," said Spurs reserve center Luke Kornet, a component of Boston's 2024 championship team (as well as a member of the Celtics team that lost in the 2022 NBA Finals). "I think there's something to just progressing in terms of how you want to play against teams. That can kind of play out. But, frankly, every single game is just an individual one. It's kind of like the 0-0 thing, but every team, you feel this emotional up and down, regardless of the result, and then really all that matters is how you perform the next 48 minutes, and that can be a completely different thing from game to game."

2021: Milwaukee Bucks 4, Phoenix Suns 2Giannis Antetokounmpo's Bucks dropped the first two games of the 2021 NBA Finals to the Suns on the road, won Games 3 and 4 at home and rolled to a six-game series victory.

>Antetokounmpo was absolutely the best player in a series that featured Devin Booker, Chris Paul, Deandre Ayton and Mikal Bridges (now on the Knicks) as the stars of the Suns.

>"I just remember losing four straight. That's what I remember out of that," said Bridges, who has shared his experience from those 2021 Finals with teammates. "Yeah, they all know, too, and they all understand as well, knowing the series is far from over. Got to keep playing desperate and be the more desperate team. But we do a great job and we understand that after every game, no matter what, it's always 0-0 at the end of the day."

2007: San Antonio Spurs 4, Cleveland Cavaliers 0LeBron James' Cavaliers dropped the first two games of the 2007 NBA Finals to the Spurs on the road, and then lost Games 3 and 4 at home, getting swept from the series.

>While James ended up the tilt's best player, he was only 22 years old, playing in his fourth season and second playoffs. He carried an ill-equipped team to the Finals, where he met Tim Duncan — one of the 10 greatest players ever and the steward of five championships.

>But wait! Wembanyama is only 22 years old, playing in his third season and first playoffs. That is true. Yet, again, as good as Brunson and Towns have been, neither is Duncan, and these Knicks are hardly those Spurs — a dynasty in full bloom. Actually, these two teams, New York and San Antonio, are about as even as it gets through three games of a Finals.

>Which is why the best player in the series matters. He almost always wins, especially if the teams are evenly matched. Dirk Nowitzki's Mavericks, who beat James' Miami Heat in 2011, and Chauncey Billups' Detroit Pistons, who bested Shaquille O'Neal's Los Angeles Lakers in 2004, are a couple of exceptions from the past quarter-century — not the rule.

1995: Houston Rockets 4, Orlando Magic 0Speaking of O'Neal, his Magic, like James' Cavs, failed to win a single game against the Rockets in the 1995 NBA Finals. He, too, was 22 years old, playing in his second playoffs.

>We can debate whether O'Neal or Houston's Olajuwon — both top-15 players in the sport's history — are the better player, but at the time they met in a championship series two decades ago Olajuwon was in his prime, working on his second straight title.

>There aren't many comparisons here, either, because Wembanyama has already done what James and O'Neal could not at the age of 22 — make a series of it in his first Finals.

1977: Portland Trail Blazers 4, Philadelphia 76ers 2Bill Walton's Blazers from 1977 are actually the closest facsimile to this year's Spurs. They are also the only team younger than the Spurs to reach the NBA Finals. They, too, fell into a 2-0 hole, albeit on the road, and then they won their next four games to take the crown.

>It was thanks to Walton, 24 years old then, playing in his third season and first playoffs, who proved with each passing game that he — not Julius Erving — was, in fact, the best player in the series. Walton averaged a 19-19-5 with 3.7 blocks per game, capturing Finals MVP, before embarking upon a regular-season MVP campaign the next season at age 23.

>

>It is not difficult to draw comparisons between Wembanyama and Walton, who, before injuries derailed his career, was another one-of-a-kind big man. He could score. He could defend. He could pass better than anyone on planet Earth (or beyond). His skill-set was different than the Frenchman, but the impact so soon into his career was just the same.

>And that should concern the Knicks. The only other two times the best player in the series snatched a Game 3 win from the jaws of a 2-0 hole, when Antetokounmpo faced the Suns and Walton played the Sixers, he went on to win the series and Finals MVP.

1964: Boston Celtics 4, San Francisco Warriors 1Wilt Chamberlain's Warriors won only Game 3 (at home) in a five-game 1964 NBA Finals against, you guessed it, Bill Russell's Celtics. We can argue all day about who was better, Chamberlain or Russell, and we have, but at the very least we have to accept them as equals, and Russell's Celtics were deeper and better (or at least they were this season).

>And maybe the Knicks are deeper and better.

>But it pays to have the best player. Ask the Golden State Warriors, who watched James erase a 3-1 deficit — one of five times (2021, 2016, 2006, 1977, 1969) a team has come back from a two-game hole in the Finals — to lead his Cavs to a championship, even against a team as talented as those 73-win Warriors, even against a player as great as Steph Curry.

>For his part, though, Spurs forward Harrison Barnes, also a member of those '16 Warriors, still does not believe in momentum, or at least the idea that his team gained control of it.

>"I don't think there's momentum in a series," said Barnes, a 14-year vet. "When you look at the last three games, we've had leads. Two of the times we haven't been able to maintain it. So, I think for us it's just a matter of, we know them very well, they know us very well, and we're going to go out there each game, and each game has taken on a life of its own."

>Through Wembanyama, then, all things can be done, even a comeback.

>"We will see," said Wemby. "But my bet would be yes, it's possible."