Victor Wembanyama had a historic 12-block night in the San Antonio Spurs' 104-102 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 1 of the West semifinals.
But the Frenchman left Monday's series opener thinking the result could've been different if he'd managed his energy better.
"I feel like I had to use my energy," Wembanyama told reporters postgame, including ESPN's Michael C. Wright. "Obviously, I used a lot of it on one side of the court. On the other side, offensively, I used too much energy on things that didn't really help our team. So, that's on me.
"There was some good and some bad. It's a lot on me because my game wasn't feeling good tonight (to) where the team is going to look for me. If I had been better, if the offensive leaders on our team would have been better, it would have been different. So, basically, if everything was different, it would have been different."
Wembanyama's 12 blocks set an NBA playoff record. However, Game 1 was the worst offensive performance of his young playoff career. He tallied 11 points on 5-of-17 shooting - including an 0-for-8 clip from deep - to go along with three turnovers. His eight misses from beyond the arc without a make were the most in Spurs postseason history.
T-Wolves center Rudy Gobert had another strong defensive performance after keeping Nikola Jokic in check for most of the opening round. The 7-foot-1 Frenchman held Wembanyama to 4-of-10 shooting as his primary defender.
Wembanyama played the final 16 minutes of Game 1 and scored three points on 1-of-6 shooting as Minnesota held off a late surge from the home side.
"Honestly, I need to look at the film again to see a little bit more, the dynamics," Wembanyama said. "Right now, it's a little bit blurry for me. I think I played the last 16 minutes of the game, maybe, and it just went by like this. That's not good. It means I didn't have the grasp on the game that I wish I did."
Game 2 tips off Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. ET in San Antonio.
