How the Spurs embraced a distraction, and possibly turned around the NBA Finals versus Knicks

NEW YORK - The extra security was a massive inconvenience, for the league and for its fans and for tens of thousands of workday commuters, but the Spurs were willing to make the most of it.

It was nice for them, during the rowdy buildup to Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Monday, that Madison Square Garden had someone other than Victor Wembanyama to boo.

And when the hometown Knicks began their customary second-half charge, counting on the full-throated support of every last supporter in the building?

The arena wasn't as loud as it could have been - if at least one of those supporters hadn't dozed off.

So the Spurs didn't mind the circus, however unnecessarily it was conceived. They didn't mind the distraction, however vibe-killing it became. By ruining what was left of the party with a ruthlessly methodical, stubbornly poised 115-111 victory, they made it clear this series is far from over.

And if they wind up coming all the way back? If they become the first team ever to lose the first two games of the Finals at home and win a championship anyway?

Well, they shouldn't feel any obligation to visit the White House, or whichever mixed-martial arts arena happens to be standing on the grounds there. But maybe they can send a thank-you T-shirt.

"Why would we complain?" one player in the Spurs locker room said, laughing about a possibly karma-altering presidential invitation made by Knicks owner James Dolan.

See, something had to change Monday.

Something had to change with the way the Spurs were being pushed around at both ends of the floor by Karl-Anthony Towns. Something had to change with Wembanyama's lack of aggression, especially early in games. Something had to change with the way the Knicks, who had won an incredible 13 playoff games in a row, felt like they were in complete control.

And when something has to change, occasionally a distraction can work in your favor. Sometimes that distraction can be a flood of Secret Service agents and the closure of multiple blocks of midtown Manhattan due to the arrival of one high-profile guest.

Or sometimes that distraction can be as simple as drawing a picture of a dead actor in a park.

That's how Wembanyama cleared his head during one of his idle afternoons this weekend. He went to Gramercy Park, sat on a bench, took out a sketchbook, and tried to make one of the pages look like the statue of Edwin Booth, which stands on the park grounds.

After two rough outings in a row in Games 1 and 2, Wembanyama said he needed "to let (his) brain cool down, recover." His trip to the park, which was captured on video by an onlooker who posted a clip on social media, apparently was part of that process.

So how did the sketch turn out?

"Not bad," Wembanyama said. "Pretty good."

If the first half of his artistic self-evaluation applied to his Finals performances in San Antonio, the second half came closer to summarizing his Game 3. It wasn't that he'd been terrible in the two losses. He just hadn't been his typically dominant self.

The 7-foot-4 Frenchman had entered the game in danger of traveling down the same path that a couple of other notable phenoms had traveled during their first trips to the NBA's biggest stage.

In 1995, Shaquille O'Neal led the Magic to the Finals in his second season, and was swept by the Rockets. In 2007, LeBron James led the Cavaliers there in his fourth season, and was swept by the Spurs.

After the Knicks outplayed Wembanyama's new San Antonio generation down the stretch in back-to-back games last week, those comparisons were easy to make. Wasn't Wembanyama, only 22 and in his third season, still too inexperienced to finish the job? Might he have to wait, as O'Neal and James both did, multiple years before clawing his way back?

Well, that last part is yet to be determined, but he made sure he didn't get swept. From the start on Monday, he made a point of getting to the rim, and scored four quick buckets on layups and dunks.

Overall, Wembanyama scored 16 of his 32 points in the paint. With Stephon Castle also putting huge pressure on the interior of New York's defense over and over again on his way to 23 points, the Spurs reestablished a big part of what made their offense so effective for the past seven months.

And if there's a challenge heading into Game 4 on Wednesday?

"(It's) probably just not getting bored with the things that worked for us," Castle said.

How about that for a metamorphosis? The kids who couldn't do anything right in the closing minutes of their first two Finals games now are worried baskets might come a little too easily.

Their coach knows better than to make that assumption, though. As Mitch Johnson noted, looking ahead, "There is no momentum - there is no carryover."

Still, something had to change Monday night, and it did. Maybe it had nothing to do with vibes. Maybe it had nothing to do with karma. But the series looked different at the end of Game 3, and everyone could see it.

Everyone, that is, who hadn't dozed off.

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