The Knicks won NBA Finals Game 1, Jalen Brunson dropped 30 points including 13 in the fourth quarter to erase a 14-point deficit, and my dad texted me seventeen times between the third quarter and final buzzer — but the thing everyone is actually talking about is the guy who ran onto the court at Frost Bank Center to take a selfie with Victor Wembanyama.
I can’t even be mad about it. Because Wemby’s response was better than anything the Spurs did all night.
With 6:28 left and the Knicks up 92-86, a fan bolted from a sideline seat, sprinted toward half court, and shoved his phone in Wembanyama’s face near the three-point line. Wembanyama, a seven-foot-four alien from France who had just shot 6-for-21, looked genuinely confused and then smiled. Security dragged the guy off. The Wembanyama court invader video surfaced within minutes, and then the selfie video emerged — the fan shouting “Wemby! Wemby!” while running, the phone capturing essentially just Wembanyama’s chest because Wemby is too tall to even fit in the damn frame. Per Larry Brown Sports, the fan is looking at a lifetime NBA ban and potential Texas criminal trespass charges.
https://x.com/awfulannouncing/status/2062371170771698098
Mike Breen on the ESPN broadcast called it “fortunately nobody hurt,” which is the most Mike Breen sentence ever uttered. Jared Weiss at The Athletic had the honest take: “Nobody is a bigger loser than a clout chaser.” Mitch Johnson, the Spurs coach, shrugged the whole thing off postgame — “I don’t think it was an event at all. I thought security got him out of there.” Sure, Mitch.
But then Wembanyama opened his mouth and made everyone forget about the loss for a second. His postgame quote, per multiple outlets: “I’ve never been in that situation. I didn’t know how to act. It really surprised me, almost as much as that time where a bat crossed the court.”
The bat. He went to the bat.
For the uninitiated: January 27, 2024, Spurs versus Timberwolves at Frost Bank Center (where else?). Wemby hits a three-pointer, a literal bat flies onto the court, bumps into him mid-celebration, and the Spurs mascot The Coyote catches it with a net while Wembanyama gives The Coyote a congratulatory dap. Spurs won 113-112. It was completely unhinged and absolutely perfect. The fact that he ranked a charging human fan as roughly equivalent to a bat on the court, in terms of how novel and disorienting the experience was, tells you everything. He has no frame of reference for any of it. The Wembanyama selfie incident reads less like a security breach and more like first contact.
Here’s where I want the Knicks faithful to pump the brakes for one second, though. The court invader was genuinely the best thing Wembanyama had going in Game 1 — the man shot 2-for-9 from three, turned it over six times, and watched Brunson dismantle San Antonio’s fourth quarter defense like it owed him money. He was bad. He said so himself: “I’m gonna figure it out. I was bad tonight. It’s not more complicated than that.” That’s not a guy spiraling. That’s a guy who has already moved on and is going to be a problem in Game 2.
I’ve read the tactical preview laid out before the series started three times since last night. The stuff about how the Knicks have to keep him off the free throw line — he went 12-for-13 — is now a real problem. He shot six turnovers’ worth of bad, and still had 26 points and 12 rebounds.
Mitchell Robinson was furious on the court after the selfie incident. Wembanyama was amused. One of those is the correct reaction to have going into Game 2.
Knicks in six. But stay awake.
