Wemby: It’s painful

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama’s first chance at a National Basketball Association (NBA) championship came sooner than most expected, and the 22-year-old French phenomenon admitted he wasn’t ready for the moment.

“Obviously, we weren’t ready, I wasn’t ready to win a ring, that’s clear,” a dejected Wembanyama said after the New York Knicks beat the Spurs 94-90 on their home floor to clinch a 4-1 triumph in the NBA Finals on Saturday.

The Spurs led by double digits in each of their four defeats in the series, Wembanyama lamenting a multitude of mistakes and missed chances by the young Texas team.

“In terms of desire to do well, intensity, effort, we were at a good level, me, too,” he said. “But experience... it’s about the mistakes.

“We’re not lacking in talent or ability, but we make too many mistakes. I make too many mistakes.”

The towering 22-year-old, in his third season, led the Spurs to the second-best record in the league.

They beat the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference finals, surviving two elimination games to triumph in seven games.

But in the face of the crafty, determined Knicks the young Spurs were undone by devastating miscues.

They included a shocking turnover by Wembanyama late in Game Two and his flagrant foul in Game Four that only energized the Knicks — who erased a 29-point deficit to win.

The NBA Defensive Player of the Year was dominant early in Saturday’s must-win game but was helpless to stop the Spurs surrendering another double-digit lead in the final quarter.

“Compared to anything before, this is the biggest lesson of my life, the biggest learning moment,” Wembanyama said.

“I can’t tell you exactly what the lesson is, but we’re learning from that, for sure.”

“It has been a hell of a year in terms of experience,” he said, adding that one of the hardest aspects of the defeat is that “there’s probably a hundred games before we can be back in Finals.”

“I’m going to have to hold that inside of me and slow down and wait and execute for a hundred games,” he said.

It wasn’t much consolation that many of the league’s greats, including Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Magic Johnson, had to go through years of playoff heartbreak before securing the titles that validated their talent.

“It’s painful,” Wembanyama said.

“But I’m not running away from that. I’m using (it) to fuel me. I’m sure all these guys you named, they’re not satisfied with being eliminated in earlier rounds or not making the playoffs.”