{"id":1967788,"date":"2026-06-02T09:05:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T06:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1967788"},"modified":"2026-06-02T09:05:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T06:05:00","slug":"guarding-wemby-in-the-nba-finals-and-other-matchups-ill-be-watching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1967788","title":{"rendered":"Guarding Wemby in the NBA Finals and other matchups I\u2019ll be watching"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Playoff series are not won merely with talent. The secret sauce is in the matchups.<\/p>\n

So, with the NBA Finals approaching, let\u2019s run through three matchups to keep an eye on after the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs tip off:<\/p>\n

Guarding Goliath<\/h2>\n

The Knicks are now forced to answer the question that three Western Conference teams dreaded earlier this spring: What are they to do with Victor Wembanyama, the 7-foot-4 giant whose presence somehow seems even taller than the height at which he\u2019s listed?<\/p>\n

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The trendy answer to that question has come on the perimeter. The Knicks could place their all-defensive wing, OG Anunoby, on Wembanyama, which would represent a noticeable size difference but also present issues for the Spurs. Wembanyama isn\u2019t always so hot against shorter but still stout, physical wings.<\/p>\n

Had he been healthy in the Western Conference finals, Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams would have received the Wembanyama assignment. OKC tried a point guard, Alex Caruso, on Wembanyama in Game 1. By the end of the series, it had gone most to its center, Isaiah Hartenstein. But the preference, if a team can manage, is often the wing \u2014 and it\u2019s the type of wing in Anunoby\u2019s archetype, one like Williams: broad, agile, strong, smart and unafraid of bucket getters.<\/p>\n

At 6-foot-7, 240 pounds, Anunoby may be the best wing in the league at pushing larger defenders away from the paint before they catch passes in the post. The skill is especially important against Wembanyama, who can drop in effortless finger rolls from distances that no human should be able to reach.<\/p>\n

Turn Wembanyama into a jump shooter, knock him off his spots when he cuts to the rim, shove him away from the block when he muscles down low, dart to the ideal defensive location when he screens and rolls, taking away those horrifying lobs, and a defender has done his job against the NBA\u2019s best young star. But there is a trickle-down effect from putting Anunoby on Wembanyama.<\/p>\n

To show it, let\u2019s rewind to the third time these two teams played, back on March 1. Anunoby had manned Wembanyama for parts of the NBA Cup final in mid-December. Two weeks later, he took Wembanyama for essentially an entire game. But at the beginning of March, he did not guard the All-NBA center much. Instead, 7-footer Karl-Anthony Towns took Wembanyama to start. Backup center Mitchell Robinson spent time on him, too. The Anunoby possessions were sparse \u2014 because the Spurs had changed.<\/p>\n

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By March, forward Harrison Barnes had exited San Antonio\u2019s starting lineup. Julian Champagnie had replaced him. Putting Anunoby on Wembanyama would have meant handing Towns, a more lumbering big man who has played the best defense of his life during the Knicks\u2019 dominant postseason run, a difficult assignment. When Barnes was there, Towns could sag off the vet, who doesn\u2019t move or drive much, and get back to him in time to close out. Towns guarding Champagnie would leave the Knicks a tad more vulnerable.<\/p>\n

Champagnie will let 3-pointers fly, as New York learned firsthand on New Year\u2019s Eve, when the Spurs came back to topple them by two points \u2014 behind 11 made long balls from Champagnie. Placing Towns on Devin Vassell, another sharpshooter, could present similar issues for the Knicks defense, though it would enable them to stick Anunoby on Wembanyama.<\/p>\n

Surely, the Knicks will use Anunoby on Wembanyama at times. They will also mix in Towns and with Robinson, whose gravity as a rebounder should be massive in this series \u2014 as long as he\u2019s able to catch the basketball with a broken pinky<\/a>. But cross-matching with Anunoby turns the Knicks\u2019 defense a smidgen more fragile than it might prefer.<\/p>\n

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Towns would be guarding one corner. Brunson would be guarding the other. If Wembanyama broke free, it\u2019s possible none of the Knicks\u2019 wings \u2014 Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart, the backbone of New York\u2019s defensive success \u2014 would be present to stop his path to the hoop.<\/p>\n

Never hacking<\/h2>\n

Bridges did not defend Stephon Castle much during the regular season. Consider this a plea for him to do so \u2014 even if Castle did not shoot well during the three games against the Knicks this season.<\/p>\n

To explain, let\u2019s reach back to a play Bridges pulled off in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, one on which he had no business sticking so close to James Harden.<\/p>\n

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With the Knicks down double digits, mired in a rare troublesome stretch for a team that has not lost a game in more than a month, the wing chased after the former MVP. Harden, in all his efforts to unglue himself, could not do it.<\/p>\n

In the fourth quarter, he inbounded a pass from the sideline, then darted for the ball. Bridges danced around a pick to stay with him. But watch what occurs next \u2014 or better yet, watch what doesn\u2019t actually happen. Bridges\u2019 hands never come close to Harden\u2019s arms.<\/p>\n

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This is the type of moment when Harden can take control. His defender is off-balance, racing in his direction. The opponent might stretch a hand out toward him, an effort to keep up with the rest of his body after his feet have lagged behind. These advantages are Harden\u2019s sweet spot. They\u2019re when all those infamous free throws sprout to life.<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old Harden\u2019s greatest days might be behind him, but he is still a demon of trickery. No player can lead the league in free-throw attempts seven different times and not retain those rinky-dink moves that got him to the line so often. Bridges defended Harden for all four games of the conference finals. The main reason? He is a master at defending without fouling.<\/p>\n

This play above is yet another example of why.<\/p>\n

Check out Bridges\u2019 right palm as he catches up to Harden. It\u2019s pressed against his left hip, reminding him not to leave a hand in the cookie jar. Extend a palm out as Harden dribbles to the hoop, and the driver will detect as soon as it lingers above the ball. Harden will rise quickly and smack a stray hand, garnering a couple of free throws.<\/p>\n

Bridges never did that. Not here. And essentially, not all series.<\/p>\n

The inside hand is on his opposite hip. The outside hand is up and out, deterring a shot. The play is so well defended that Harden actually picks up his dribble, a rare choice. Normally, he\u2019ll launch himself at the rim, and either go up or kick out to a 3-point shooter from there. But Bridges has him frazzled.<\/p>\n

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Harden can\u2019t free himself with a pivot. Bridges goes vertical instead of out when Harden jumps. And not only has he earned a stop; he\u2019s also avoided fouling Harden.<\/p>\n

The Bridges that showed up in the past two rounds of the playoffs, the one who defended Philadelphia 76ers firecracker Tyrese Maxey in Round 2 and the more prodding Harden in the conference finals, is not the one Knicks fans got used to during the regular season. The version of Bridges from the first 82 games was a magnificent defender away from the basketball but one who struggled at the point of attack.<\/p>\n

He would let up early against a screen. Physicality could hinder him. If a guard was quick, he often found himself steaming past the Knicks wing. But this Bridges \u2014 the one who has clamped down on All-NBA talent each night while also shooting 59 percent on mid-range jumpers in the playoffs \u2014 is the guy for whom the Knicks traded five first-round picks. His defining trait has been his control.<\/p>\n

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He manned Harden for the entire series. During all that time, he committed one shooting foul on the free-throw maestro. One. All series. It was a reach-in on a 3-pointer Harden attempted with the Knicks about to close out a Game 1 victory. He did not commit another shooting foul on Harden, who couldn\u2019t catch a rhythm. And thus, neither could the Cavaliers.<\/p>\n

It will be fascinating to see how the Knicks deploy Bridges once the finals begin. The Knicks and Spurs played three times (including their NBA Cup matchup) during the regular season. More often than not, Bridges manned All-Star point guard De\u2019Aaron Fox. But considering how Bridges has fared during the postseason, sliding him over to Stephon Castle could be the move.<\/p>\n

Castle is the most unrelenting foul-drawer who occupies the Spurs\u2019 perimeter. He absorbed 108 fouls on drives to the hoop during the regular season, which ranked 10th in the NBA, according to Second Spectrum. He is a stylistic mix of Maxey and Harden, boasting Harden\u2019s size and change of pace with the speed and lift to blow by most defenders.<\/p>\n

If Bridges were to take Castle, then Hart could move to Fox. The beauty of the Knicks\u2019 wing trio is its interchangeability. New York can cycle through matchups. And it can do so understanding that Bridges can control himself against anyone.<\/p>\n

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Manning Brunson<\/h2>\n

The Spurs\u2019 defense is not missing much, but even after it just stifled two-time reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, it lacks the ideal stopper for another shifty guard, Brunson.<\/p>\n

You can bet that Castle will begin the series working the head of the Knicks\u2019 offense. During the regular season and NBA Cup, the Spurs tried De\u2019Aaron Fox on him, too. But Castle is the strangler atop San Antonio\u2019s elite defense, the man who just stifled Gilgeous-Alexander, who Brunson isn\u2019t as tall or quick as, for the first six games of the Western Conference Finals. But Brunson has a tool Gilgeous-Alexander does not.<\/p>\n

He can and will pull up from 3-point range, which helps negate Wembanyama\u2019s work around the paint. And more importantly, no Brunson stopper, no matter how dominant in a vacuum (and Castle is as good as any other guard patrolling the perimeter), is under 6-foot-7.<\/p>\n

Brunson\u2019s greatest struggles come against length. He doesn\u2019t as easily get to his spots against the Atlanta Hawks\u2019 Dyson Daniels. The Detroit Pistons\u2019 Ausar Thompson has the arms and vertical to leap into his space after he attempts his crafty spins that usually open up 12-footers. A couple of years ago, even Kelly Oubre \u2014 not a defender of Daniels\u2019 or Thompson\u2019s or Castle\u2019s caliber but a high-effort, long-armed energizer \u2014 gave him trouble for the first two games of the playoffs.<\/p>\n

The tanks like Castle or Dylan Harper, guys more of the Jrue Holiday mold, don\u2019t have as easy a time with Brunson, who can still slither into an off-balance jumper that looks difficult but is actually the type the point guard hunts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Playoff series are not won merely with talent. The secret sauce is in the matchups. So, with the NBA Finals approaching, let\u2019s run through three matchups to keep an eye on after the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs tip off: Guarding Goliath The Knicks are now forced to answer the question that three […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1967788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1967788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1967788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1967788\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1967788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1967788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1967788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}