Spurs' Victor Wembanyama makes bold NBA Finals guarantee ahead of Game 5 vs. Knicks

Ten years ago, the Cleveland Cavaliers stunned the basketball world when they toppled the Golden State Warriors to become the first team to ever recover from a 3-1 deficit and then win an NBA Finals series. 

While speaking with reporters on Friday, Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama predicted that he and his teammates will follow in the Cavaliers' footsteps and become the second team to achieve that particular accomplishment. 

Victor Wembanyama on Spurs coming back to win NBA Finals: "We’re going to do it"

"Everybody (on the Spurs) thinks, everybody knows, we’re going to do it," Wembanyama confidently said, per Joe Vardon of The Athletic. "I feel like we need to isolate that one game and take it one game at a time. I think it would be a mistake to waste our energy on multiple games. It’s one game at a time." 

That first game will take place at San Antonio's Frost Bank Center on Saturday night in front of what may not be such a friendly crowd for the hosts. According to multiple reports, plenty of Knicks fans plan to invade Texas and attend a Game 5 they hope will result in New York securing the franchise's first NBA title since 1973. 

That said, Wembanyama has some reasons to be confident. The Spurs won Game 3 at Madison Square Garden, and they thoroughly outplayed the Knicks en route to grabbing a 29-point lead in Game 4 before New York completed the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history.

De'Aaron Fox also not lacking confidence

Late in Game 4, Spurs guard De'Aaron Fox made a baffling decision that ultimately resulted in New York's OG Anunoby scoring a game-winning putback tip-in with 1.2 seconds remaining. 

"It’s not like people have my phone number and can call me," Fox said on Friday about criticisms he has received for not forcing the Knicks to foul him before Anunoby became a New York sports legend. "I don’t watch those shows. It doesn’t matter." 

Fox also reminded everybody that the Spurs haven't been blown out of games. Thus far, they have suffered defeats of 105-95, 105-104 and 107-106 against the Knicks. 

"We still have this belief because we’ve seen it," Fox added. “We’ve seen it be done, that teams have come back from 3-1. I think even with those series, the games that they lost, they were losing by double digits. The games that we’re losing have all been close games. We still have that belief that we have a chance to win. But we’re taking this one game at a time. We’re not looking at it as we need to win three games. We need to win tomorrow, and then we give ourselves a chance to play another game. Then you look at that next game."

There will be no next game if the Spurs lose on Saturday. Otherwise, Game 6 would be back at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.