Victor Wembanyama Makes Surprising Admission After Spurs Loss

What began as another fast start for the San Antonio Spurs quickly turned into a sobering reminder of how thin the margin can be in the NBA — even for the league’s hottest team.

The Spurs’ unbeaten February came to an abrupt end Sunday night with a 114-89 loss to the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, snapping San Antonio’s winning streak and halting a historic offensive run to open March.

After not losing since Jan. 31 at Charlotte, the Spurs never recovered from a decisive first-half surge by New York that flipped the game and exposed cracks in an otherwise dominant stretch.

“I was surprised, yeah,” Spurs star Victor 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.”

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Spurs’ Fast Start Vanishes After Knicks’ First-Half Run

San Antonio appeared in control early, jumping out to a 19-7 lead late in the first quarter after a 3-pointer by Stephon Castle. The Spurs were playing with the same pace and spacing that defined their February surge.

Then everything changed.

New York closed the quarter on a 15-2 run, fueled by Jalen Brunson, who scored 11 points in the final 1:52 to give the Knicks a 22-21 lead after one.

The second quarter proved even more damaging. The Knicks opened with an 11-0 spurt, capped by a basket from Mikal Bridges, and later strung together a crushing 26-2 run in the first half that ballooned the lead to 26 points.

From there, the Spurs were forced into a half-court game they never solved.

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Spurs Star Responds After Quiet Stretch

Individually, Wembanyama delivered a strong response after being limited to 12 points in each of the Spurs’ previous two games against the Knicks.

The second-year star finished with 25 points, 13 rebounds and four blocked shots, showing renewed assertiveness offensively. It marked his first appearance at Madison Square Garden since Christmas 2024, when he posted 42 points and 18 rebounds in a loss during his holiday debut in New York.

This time, the production came without the result.

San Antonio committed 22 turnovers, which the Knicks converted into 24 points, and lost the rebounding battle 54-41 — a combination that erased Wembanyama’s impact and short-circuited the Spurs’ transition game.

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End of a Historic Offensive Month

Sunday’s loss closed the book on a rare achievement for San Antonio.

The Spurs became the first team in NBA history to go unbeaten in a month while scoring at least 110 points in every game with a minimum of 10 contests. That offensive consistency disappeared against New York’s physical defense and rebounding pressure.

Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said afterward that the team drifted away from its identity once the Knicks seized control.

“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.”

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Loss Ends Streak, Not Belief

For a Spurs team that had not lost in more than a month, the result served as a jolt — but not a crisis.

Wembanyama said the setback did not change his view of San Antonio’s trajectory.

“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.”

February’s run raised expectations. March opened with a reminder of how quickly momentum can swing in the NBA and why the Spurs believe this loss may matter more for what it teaches than what it ends.

Alder Almo is a sports journalist covering the NBA for Heavy.com. He has more than 20 years of experience in local and international media, including broadcast, print and digital. He previously covered the Knicks for Empire Sports Media and the NBA for Off the Glass. Alder is from the Philippines and is now based in Jersey City, New Jersey. More about Alder Almo