Knicks overcome Spurs' Victor Wembanyama with Mikal Bridges leading the charge
Mikal Bridges of the NY Knicks scoring during the 2nd. quarter at the Christmas Day game against the San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden on Wed. Dec. 25, 2024. Credit: Errol Anderson
There was no question what the big national story coming out of Madison Square Garden on Christmas Day would be.
At halftime of the Spurs-Knicks game on Wednesday, “Wemby” was trending No. 2 in the United States on “X,” second only to “Christmas.”
But a not-so-funny thing happened to Victor Wembanyama on his way to another otherworldly performance for the Spurs’ rising superstar: He lost.
Behind 41 points from Mikal Bridges, the Knicks defeated the Spurs, 117-114, to win their fifth game in a row and improve to 20-10. The Spurs are 15-15.
“It’s cool,” said Bridges, who shot 17-for-25 from the field, 6-for-9 on three-point shots. “I know my family’s geeked up. I know they’re going to be more geeked up than me.”
The Knicks needed all of that to overcome Wembanyama, the 7-3 second-year man from France. He finished with 42 points, 18 rebounds, four assists and four blocked shots. He had 24 points at halftime.
“Good Lord, he’s different,” the Knicks’ Josh Hart said.
It was a highly entertaining tipoff to the NBA’s Christmas slate, with the teams trading spurts and leads throughout.
Chris Paul’s three-pointer got the Spurs to within 117-114 with 41.1 seconds left, yet San Antonio never got the ball back, thanks to two offensive rebounds by Hart that allowed the Knicks to run out the clock.
What accounts for Hart’s rebounding prowess?
“Just motor, man,” Karl-Anthony Towns said. “He’s just always active, and that activity allows him to get some really good rebounds.”
Another key down the stretch was coach Tom Thibodeau deploying OG Anunoby to defend Wembanyama, who finally quieted down over the final few minutes.
But this primarily was Bridges’ day. He was brilliant from the start, scoring the Knicks’ first seven points and going from there.
“Mikal was incredible throughout the game,” Thibodeau said.
The 41 points were Bridges’ most – by 10 points – in his first season as a Knick.
“I was just being aggressive, staying ready,” Bridges said. “Just trying to make the open ones and be aggressive, honestly.”
Said Hart, “We knew it was just a matter of time before he kind of found it. Now he found it and you [reporters] are not saying nothing.
“Get some damn apology forms out. I’ll be collecting them next game and give him his flowers because he’s playing well. Let the flowers be as loud as the hate.”
Wembanyama attributed the loss to the Knicks having more “dawg” in them down the stretch.
“We let them get some rebounds on us,” he said. “We let them move us a little too much. This is more what it was about. They didn’t win against us because they played better basketball. Not at all.”
The Knicks led 28-27 after one quarter despite a horrendous shooting stretch in which at one point in the first half they missed 15 consecutive three-point shots.
It was 58-51 Spurs at halftime, But the Knicks took an 88-83 lead into the fourth quarter, at which point the Spurs scored nine points in a row.
It was a back-and-forth affair from there, with Bridges leading the way. Paul’s three-pointer made things interesting in the final minute, but the Knicks found a way, thanks largely to Hart’s rebounds.
“Just go out there and try to make a play,” Hart said. “That possession is the definition of my job and why I’m here. To make those energy, extra-effort plays . . . Plays like that, that’s my job.”
Towns, limited by foul trouble to 30 minutes, had 21 points and nine rebounds for the Knicks and Jalen Brunson had 20 points, nine assists and seven rebounds.
The Knicks totaled 17 offensive rebounds to the Spurs’ eight, part of the reason they had 100 shots overall to the Spurs’ 83.
“Those extra possessions were needed,” Thibodeau said. “We never hung our heads. Just kept battling, scratching back.”
The Knicks now have won 15 of their last 19 games. Wembanyama and the Spurs could well represent the future of the NBA. The Knicks are the present.
Notes & quotes: It was the 40th anniversary of Bernard King’s 60-point game against the Nets. He got a nice hand when he was shown on the scoreboard.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
