The Greatest Comeback Ever, and The NBA's New Villain

The scenes coming out of New York City during this Knicks postseason run have been absolutely unbelievable.

In a city filled with countless sports teams and fan bases, there is only one team that truly seems capable of uniting all New Yorkers... And that's the Knicks.

Throughout this playoff run, the passion has been impossible to ignore. We saw it after the first-round victories. We saw it after the second round. We saw it after the Eastern Conference Finals, when the Knicks punched their ticket to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999.

Now, after the most incredible comeback in NBA Finals history, Knicks fans have taken the celebration to another level.

The Knicks are now one win away from their first NBA championship since 1973.

Do they deserve to celebrate? Absolutely.

Have some people taken it too far? Probably.

Videos of Spurs fans being harassed in the streets, jerseys being ripped off, and even Victor Wembanyama having eggs thrown at him while heading back to his hotel crossed a line. That's not something I can defend.

That said, Wembanyama has also spent this postseason building a reputation as the villain, and we'll get to that shortly.

I didn't get to watch every second of Game 4 because, as I mentioned in my previous post, I had a medical emergency.

But what I did see in the first half was incredibly frustrating as someone cheering for the Knicks, someone who has money on the Knicks in this series, and someone who essentially adopted the Knicks after visiting New York back in March.

The Spurs simply would not miss.

The Knicks couldn't generate offense.

For the first time all series, it genuinely felt like San Antonio may have figured something out.

In fairness, it wasn't completely surprising. The Spurs had built double-digit leads in every game of the series, and their young core was showing exactly why so many people believe they're the future of the NBA.

Victor Wembanyama dominated early.

Dylan Harper looked sensational.

Devin Vassell knocked down shots.

Stephon Castle, fresh off winning a national championship in college, looked poised and under complete control.

Meanwhile, the Knicks couldn't get anything going.

By halftime, San Antonio led by 27 points and appeared to be cruising toward a series lead.

However, to me, one sequence stood out.

The one everyone is making a meme with.

Wembanyama baited Mitchell Robinson into a technical foul after getting under his skin. After Robinson reacted, Wembanyama pointed at his head and repeatedly told him, "I'm in your head."

At the time, it looked like a defining moment for this series.

Instead, it ended up becoming one of the defining moments for the opposite reason.

Because from that point forward, I don't think Wemby was that great at all.

People have focused on De'Aaron Fox's decision to attempt a layup in the final moments when he could have simply dribbled out the clock. Others have criticized head coach Mitch Johnson for not calling a timeout when things started unraveling.

Sure, those decisions were costly.

But none of them excuse what happened.

The Spurs led by 29 points midway through the third quarter of Game 4 of the NBA Finals.

If you're Wembanyama, you simply cannot allow that to happen.

Especially if you're being discussed as the best player in the world.

Over the last few weeks, many people have crowned Victor Wembanyama as the best player in the world.

After eliminating Oklahoma City in the Western Conference Finals, the hype reached another level.

But if you're going to receive that title, then you have to perform like it in moments like these.

When I look at some of the league's biggest stars throughout history and today, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum, those players don't allow a 29-point lead to disappear without responding.

They slow the game down.

They score.

They stop momentum.

They make sure things don't spiral.

Wembanyama didn't do that.

His second half was brutal.

And that's the reality.

That said, as much as this game will be remembered for the Spurs' collapse, it should also be remembered for one of the greatest comebacks the Knicks have ever produced.

Jalen Brunson was phenomenal, finishing with 36 points and once again proving why he's become one of the faces of this franchise.

Karl-Anthony Towns battled foul trouble but delivered when the Knicks needed him most. Even if Wembanyama had moments of dominance, Towns made him work for everything.

Jose Alvarado provided incredible energy off the bench, making winning plays on both ends of the floor. Whether it was a defensive stop, a clutch basket, or simply creating chaos, he found ways to impact the game.

Josh Hart once again did a little bit of everything. While he nearly became the story for the wrong reasons after missing a crucial layup late, the Knicks ultimately survived.

But the biggest flowers belong to OG Anunoby.

At this point, he might be the Finals MVP.

The sequence that defined the game (and perhaps the entire series), came when Anunoby blocked De'Aaron Fox on one end before immediately converting a putback on the other.

It was the type of sequence that belongs in NBA Finals history.

Honestly, if the Knicks finish this off, don't be surprised if that play ends up immortalized outside Madison Square Garden one day.

It was absolute cinema.

Now, onto Wembanyama's growing reputation problem.

I've spent years saying Victor Wembanyama is going to become the best player in the world.

I still believe he'll win MVP awards.

I still believe he'll win championships.

I still believe he'll finish his career among the greatest players to ever play the game.

But throughout this postseason, another side of him has become increasingly difficult to ignore.

For someone who is often praised for his intelligence and maturity, he's come across as incredibly arrogant.

Whether it's his long-running rivalry with Chet Holmgren, his comments about how the Spurs play basketball being the "ethical" way to play, or his remarks after Game 1 suggesting he didn't even need to play particularly well for San Antonio to win, there has been a growing level of confidence that is beginning to look like overconfidence.

And right now, it's backfiring.

Because the truth is simple:

The Spurs need him to be excellent.

Not good.

Not okay.

Excellent.

This Finals series has featured multiple moments that will follow Wembanyama if San Antonio ultimately loses.

In Game 1, he dribbled the ball off his foot before launching a three-pointer that wasn't close.

In Game 2, he threw the ball off Stephon Castle's back, sprinted up the floor, and then committed a costly foul on Jalen Brunson.

In Game 4, he missed two critical free throws while San Antonio held a one-point lead and then disappeared for large stretches of the second half.

We won't forget that.

This is where things get even more controversial.

Throughout the postseason, Wembanyama has developed a growing reputation as a provocateur.

There have been elbows, flops, questionable physical plays, shoves, and incidents that many fans and analysts feel have gone unpunished.

The elbow in the Timberwolves series.

The shove on Jalen Brunson in Game 3.

Several other moments that have left opposing fan bases frustrated.

In my opinion, the league has given him far more leeway than most players would receive.

The fact that he's now just one flagrant foul point away from a suspension feels justified.

Honestly, there are people who would argue he should have already missed a game.

Whether that's fair or not is up for debate.

What isn't debatable is that his reputation is changing.

Getting eggs thrown at him wasn't acceptable.

Let's make that clear.

But when Wembanyama recently suggested he's nowhere near Trae Young's level of villain status in New York, I think he's wrong.

He's there.

And it's not just New York anymore.

NBA fans are turning on him.

Analysts who have spent years praising him are beginning to question him.

Fans who once viewed him as the league's golden child are becoming increasingly critical.

Fairly or unfairly, he's becoming the villain.

The interesting thing is that this may ultimately be good for Wembanyama.

NBA history is filled with legends who experienced painful failures before reaching the top of the mountain.

Michael Jordan lost.

LeBron James lost.

Nikola Jokic lost.

Virtually every all-time great suffered through heartbreak before eventually winning championships.

This could be Wembanyama's first truly defining setback.

And if history is any indication, it won't be the last.

That's part of becoming great.

You have to hit adversity before you can reach legendary status.

Wembanyama is still one of the best players in basketball.

He may already be a top-three player in the world.

One day, he will probably win multiple championships and lift the Larry O'Brien Trophy.

But right now?

His time hasn't arrived.

Instead, he's becoming something else.

The NBA's villain.

If the Spurs lose this series, he'll spend the entire summer hearing about this collapse. For the first time in his career, legitimate questions will follow him into a season.

Can he lead a team through adversity?

Can he keep his composure?

Can he deliver when the stakes are highest?

And perhaps most importantly, how will he respond when the basketball world stops loving him?

Because whether he likes it or not, that moment is coming.

And how he handles it may end up defining the next chapter of his career.