Victor Wembanyama watched Shai Gilgeous-Alexander lift the MVP trophy and then delivered his response.
Wembanyama made no secret of the fact he felt he should have been given the award but took out his frustrations on the Oklahoma City Thunder as the San Antonio Spurs claimed Game One in the Western Conference finals.
The fabulous Frenchman poured in 41 points and pulled down 24 rebounds as the Spurs won 122-115 in double overtime.
Asked if he was trying to send a message, Wembanyama replied: “The message would be that we as a team are ready to go into any environment, any place against anybody. Even though we’ve still got a lot to learn, our effort should be over everybody else’s. Tonight, we were relentless.”
Pushed on the issue, he did admit the night felt personal and that his display was a natural response to watching someone else lift the Michael Jordan Trophy, adding: “Yeah, for sure, everything you just said.”
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson was a little more forthright when asked about Wembanyama.
“He’s competitive,” Johnson said. “To see the other competitor [with] the trophy he deserves voted the winner, if you’re a competitor and you see another competitor get rewarded with what you want, that’s motivation. We all get motivated by different things, and I don’t want to speak for him. But as a competitive person, that would be my approach and perspective.”
I’ve got to be better admits Gilgeous-Alexander
It was a sobering night for Gilgeous-Alexander, who lifted the trophy before the game for the second successive year, and the defending champion Thunder, who know they are in a major fight if they want to return to the finals.
“We just got to be better – me, in particular,” said Gilgeous-Alexander, who was restricted to 24 points and 12 assists. “I have to be better, especially against a team of this calibre. Nothing more than that.
“I know what my teammates are capable of, what we’re capable of as a team when we bring it. It’s just unfortunate that I wasn’t able to bring my best game tonight, but that’s how it goes sometimes. Sometimes, you’re your best version, sometimes you’re not. You’ve got to roll with the punches, don’t get discouraged and stay true to who you are.”
Gilgeous-Alexander was double-teamed all night and his Thunder team-mates weren’t able to get the job done.
“We’re going to have to figure that out,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “They’re good schematically. They obviously have a lot of tools with the point-of-attack defenders and with Wembanyama. There’s a reason they are where they are, but there’s a reason we are where we are, and one of the things that I love about this team is our problem-solving.
“We’ve been in these series before. We’ve hit these types of plateaus. We gave ourselves obviously a chance to win despite that tonight with our defense and the way that we played, but we got to solve a few problems and be better in Game Two.”
Gilgeous-Alexander believes aggression can deter Wembanyama
Gilgeous-Alexander admitted Wembanyama’s height means it’s difficult to find space under the basket and called for more aggression in Game Two which comes tomorrow night.
“It’s obviously challenging – very tall, very long, deters a lot of things at the rim,” Gilgeous-Alexander added.
“You’ve got to be smart when you go in there. Be patient, but also be aggressive. Don’t be too timid in there. I think you get caught worrying about it too much, and you lose aggression. That’s where they really put a stranglehold on the game. You’ve got to be able to be aggressive but also be smart.”
