Victor Wembanyama left Stephon Castle out to dry, giving him the ball with less than a second left on the shot clock, forcing him to quickly fire a 25-footer from the wing. The buzzer screamed and thousands groaned as the game-changing 3-pointer fell with less than two minutes left.
When the 21-year-old next looked at the rim, he was standing at the free-throw line with 6.8 seconds left, sinking the clinching shots of the 115-111 win in Game 3 of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden.
“He might be the most mature player on our team,” Wembanyama said. “He’s shown over and over again he’s capable and that we are right to put our trust in him.”
Castle inflicted even more damage before his late-game heroics.
The second-year standout from UConn — who won the national championship in his only season with the Huskies — punished the Knicks perimeter defenders from the tip by attacking the paint at will, finishing strong at the rim and sending Knicks defenders scrambling in rotations.
Castle scored 18 of his 25 points in the first half — combining with Wembanyama to become the first pair of teammates who are 22 or younger to each score at least 20 points in an NBA Finals game — and also finished with five rebounds, five assists, one block and one steal in 38 minutes.
Dylan Harper, 20, set the tone in San Antonio, barely a year removed from Rutgers, now repeatedly bullying his way into the lane to put up 14.6 points and 7.3 rebounds per game in the NBA Finals.
“For the most part, we kind of dictate where we want to go on the court,” Castle said Tuesday at Madison Square Garden. “I think that’s a skill that me and [Harper] both have, and it’s very useful. We’ve just got to keep continuing to use it.
“I don’t think we’ve let the defense force us to do anything all year.”
In Game 4, the Knicks need to try to make the unproven shooters beat them from deep, taking away the young guards’ confidence-building drives.
Castle has shot 5-for-14 on 3-pointers in the series but is a career 30.5 percent shooter from the perimeter. Harper is shooting 60 percent on 2-pointers in the series but is just 2-for-15 on 3-pointers in the NBA Finals, including two wide-open misses in the final 70 seconds of Game 3.
“I feel like every night is not going to be your night,” said Harper, who had made 30.5 percent of 3-pointers in the playoffs. “[In Game 3], I couldn’t make a shot. That’s just the reality of the game. I’m going to keep on shooting them because [of] the confidence I have in myself, the confidence the team has in me.
“I can’t really hang my head too much because we’ve got a lot more basketball to be played.”
Josh Hart has been in their shoes. Throughout this playoff run, the veteran has been left alone on the outside and dared to make the opponent pay for it.
Hart wouldn’t reveal whether the Knicks would employ a similar strategy against the Spurs’ young guards, but part of the game plan is no secret.
“I’m sure we’re going to change some things and switch up some schemes to protect the paint,” Hart said. “Obviously, those guys are very dynamic when they touch the paint.”
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