Spurs’ answer to backbreaking problem has disappeared when they need it most

The rebounding battle was a major deciding factor in San Antonio’s Game 2 loss to the Knicks last night. New York led the category 44-42, a small difference but one that mattered in a game decided by one possession.

The real backbreaker for the Spurs was New York’s offensive rebounding, specifically. The ‘Bockers grabbed 10 of those compared to San Antonio’s five, converting five more second-chance points. Again, a marginal gap was magnified by the competitiveness of the contest.

A reasonable counter for the Spurs could be deploying the “French Vanilla” duo of Victor Wembanyama and Luke Kornet, the giant combo that did damage in the regular season. But the Knicks are a bad matchup for it, and Kornet individually has looked borderline unplayable lately. This puts San Antonio in a tough spot as they rack their brains for ways to make an unthinkable comeback.

Luke Kornet has become a real question mark for the Spurs

The playoffs have not been kind to Luke Kornet, who once looked like a serious X-Factor for the Spurs. He was pretty good against the Trail Blazers, but he’s tailed off more and more with the passing of each series. His minutes have decreased every round, going from 19.4 per game in Round 1 to just 9.0 so far in the Finals.

Kornet hasn’t been a genuine game-changer for San Antonio this year, but he’s at least been someone Mitch Johnson can trust to hold down the fort and make an impact when Wemby needs a breather. That hasn’t been the case recently.

A lot of Kornet’s struggles boil down to his lacking versatility and athleticism. He’s generally confined to the paint on both ends and can’t scale up much offensively.

His heavy reliance on drop coverage has made it easy for teams to game-plan to attack him, especially because he isn’t the same dynamic shot blocker that other drop bigs are. Drivers have gone straight into his chest for layups time and time again in the postseason.

The Knicks are built to stop French Vanilla

Kornet is shaky on his own right now, but to make matters worse, letting him work in tandem with Wembanyama might not be possible in this series.

Part of the reason why is that New York’s roster is built to torch traditional centers. They’re one of the few teams in the league that can play truly effective five-out basketball. When Jalen Brunson, Landry Shamet, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, and Karl-Anthony Towns are on the floor together, there’s nobody for Kornet to guard, with or without Wemby alongside him.

On top of that, Kornet doesn’t have the defensive utility needed to cover Brunson pick-and-rolls. Brunson can and will fry his drop coverage with pull-ups, or easily drive past him if he dares to hedge or switch.

Kornet would also take away from Wembanyama on both sides of the ball. Defensively, he’d force Wemby to have to guard primarily on the perimeter, which obviously isn’t where he’s most dominant. Offensively, he’d eat up space that Wemby needs to operate as a face-up driver and shooter. The Knicks would help off Kornet all day.

Because they’re down 0-2, the Spurs have to just throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks. That might include sampling French Vanilla, but the odds of that working out are low.

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