Wembanyama Shocked as Knicks End Spurs’ Historic 11-Game Win Streak

The San Antonio Spurs' remarkable 11-game winning streak came to an abrupt end Sunday with a crushing 114-89 defeat to the New York Knicks. Star center Victor Wembanyama expressed surprise at his team's inability to handle the Knicks' defensive pressure after dominating throughout February.

NEW YORK — Victor Wembanyama couldn’t hide his astonishment. The San Antonio Spurs, who had been unstoppable throughout February, stumbled badly as March began.

The Spurs crumbled under New York’s defensive intensity on Sunday, watching their impressive 11-game winning streak come to a halt in a lopsided 114-89 defeat.

The aggressive defense wasn’t anything new for San Antonio to face. That’s why Wembanyama anticipated his team would handle it much better at Madison Square Garden, but they never bounced back after the Knicks unleashed a devastating 26-2 scoring surge in the opening half.

“We gave them life,” Wembanyama said. “We should have been better, especially on that run in the first quarter.”

San Antonio had posted a perfect 11-0 record in February, making NBA history as the first franchise to remain undefeated while putting up 110 or more points in every contest during a month with at least 10 games. Things looked promising early when they jumped out to a 19-7 advantage on Sunday.

However, New York completely stifled them from that point forward, using their massive scoring run to flip the momentum and limiting San Antonio to their season-low point total.

“I was surprised, yeah,” Wembanyama said. “It feels like they’re a good basketball team, they are good actual basketball players. They’re not the nastiest, ugly team, you know? They’re not an ugly team to watch but they made our game ugly.”

The All-Star center finished with 25 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks, recovering offensively after managing just 12 points in his previous two outings. However, he turned the ball over seven times and criticized himself for playing too cautiously, particularly from three-point range where he connected on only 1 of 7 attempts.

Wembanyama also acknowledged making an error on what both he and head coach Mitch Johnson described as a crucial moment. San Antonio failed to secure the rebound after Knicks center Mitchell Robinson missed a free throw while the Spurs held a 21-14 advantage late in the opening quarter. New York closed the period with an 8-0 surge to grab the lead and then dominated early in the second quarter.

Prior to that sequence, Johnson noted that “the first 10 minutes roughly couldn’t have gone almost any better for us.” Following that stretch, his squad barely resembled the team that had climbed to the Western Conference’s No. 2 position.

“I think if you watched us even a little bit this year, the best version of us is fast, activity, space, pace,” Johnson said, “whether that’s ball movement, body movement or a combination of. And at that point through that stretch we were it felt like in quicksand a lot, both ways.”

Despite the setback, Wembanyama dismissed any concerns following the Spurs’ first defeat since January 31 against Charlotte.

“No, I don’t see any regression,” the All-Star center said. “I think it’s good for us to see this kind of adversity.”