How Victor Wembanyama, Spurs fought the MSG noise -- and won - ESPN

Thousands of people passed through the hallways from the San Antonio Spurs' locker room to the interview room of Madison Square Garden, where on Monday night Victor Wembanyama reflected on the first NBA Finals win of his young career. Every one of them was wearing shoes.

Except for Wembanyama. These were his first steps as a winner in the Finals, and he wanted to feel them — with his bare feet.

«He always likes to walk barefoot so he can really feel the ground,» his longtime agent Bouna Ndiaye said as he stood outside the news conference room, waiting for the 22-year-old superstar. «It's how he connects.»

A Spurs staffer held Wembanyama's size 21 slides for him if he changed his mind — or started to consider the cleanliness of the Madison Square Garden floor.

But by now this has become part of his routine and everything throughout these playoffs suggests Wembanyama and the Spurs have tremendous faith in their routines and structures, no matter the pressure or odds.

They've fallen behind in each of their previous two playoff series and come back to win by doubling down on their strengths and talent, rather than making large-scale tactical adjustments.

«What we've built with this team is we have an identity that makes everybody dangerous,» Wembanyama said Tuesday. «Sometimes it will pay off over a season, [sometimes] over a playoff series.»

The only changes to their starting lineup this postseason have come due to injury, with Wembanyama missing one game and De'Aaron Fox missing two. Otherwise, the Spurs have stuck with what has gotten them here, and that's the plan again heading into Wednesday's Game 4 at Madison Square Garden (8:30 p.m. ET on ABC and the ESPN App).

The Knicks are back in the NBA Finals for the first time