NBA Finals: Knicks' toughest task will be to contain Spurs' 7-4 center Victor Wembanyama

GREENBURGH — After 11 straight victories and a week of rest as they waited to find out whom they’d be playing in the NBA Finals, the Knicks finally could get to work Sunday on a plan for the San Antonio Spurs, who bumped off defending champion Oklahoma City in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals on Saturday. The Spurs will host the Knicks in Game 1 of the Finals on Wednesday.

Bullet point No. 1 of that plan will be finding a way to neutralize Victor Wembanyama, the 7-4 French star known as “The Alien’’ because of his otherworldly basketball skills.

“Obviously, you’ve got to figure out how to get him out of the paint, how to run him, those little things I feel like OKC did a decent job at,’’ Knicks guard Deuce McBride said Sunday. “But he’s a special player, so we just have to contain him as a team.’’

Wembanyama, 22, this season became the youngest and first unanimous choice as the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year.

Bullet point No. 2 in the plan will be making sure not to overlook the rest of the young and talented San Antonio roster while the Knicks are trying to deal with Wembanyama on offense and defense.

“It’s going to be tough,’’ Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “They’re well-coached. They have obviously a tremendous player in Wemby, and then they’re young, to a certain degree. But they have some really good veterans on the team that kind of uplift the young guys and give the young guys a lot of guidance.

“They’ve got a nice mix of players on their team, and they’re a team that comes out really aggressive and hits first,’’ Brown said.

“The crowd is into it, and we just have to make sure we try to match or exceed their physicality to start the ballgame while leaning on our standards.’’

The Knicks probably will throw multiple defenders at Wembanyama, who is averaging 23.2 points and shooting 51% overall and 37% from three-point range in the playoffs.

OG Anunoby likely will get most of the defensive duty against him, with Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson getting the assignment at times.

That is presuming Robinson is good to go despite undergoing surgery last week to deal with a broken right pinkie.

There also might be some double-teaming in there, too, and who knows, maybe even some zone defense at times.

Anunoby, who is listed as 6-7, matched up the most against Wembanyama during the regular season and has the best defensive numbers of anyone in the NBA against him.

“OG is extremely versatile, and the luxury of having a guy like that is, he’s long enough, athletic enough, strong enough to guard quick smaller guys,’’ Brown said. “He’s obviously got the size and athleticism to guard big wings and then he’s got the strength and the length and the intelligence to guard bigger guys.

“So having a guy like that gives us a ton of versatility to be able to move him around, knowing that he can adapt-slash-adjust on the fly.’’

But figuring out how to guard Wembanyama is only half the equation. The Knicks will need to have a plan to attack him (or avoid him) at the offensive end of the floor.

Wembanyama is averaging 10.8 rebounds and 3.5 blocked shots per game in the playoffs, and the assumption is that he likely will spend at least some time guarding the 6-5 Josh Hart, which presumably would give him the freedom to roam the paint as a help defender.

“What I think they do a great job of is their guards putting a lot of pressure on the ballhandler, which is forcing them into Wemby,’’ McBride said.

“If you’re playing off the ball and not setting screens and allowing him to roam freely without being touched, it’s different if somebody’s screening you, and then you’re getting everything.’’

Hart doesn’t seem bothered by the prospect of being guarded by Wembanyama.

“I mean, that’s the only unanimous Defensive Player of the Year guarding me, so I think that’s a good sign for me, right?’’ Hart said, generating laughter in the interview room. “It means I’m a pretty good basketball player. But man, I go into the game and I play the game the way the game needs me to play. And if that’s shooting or scoring, cool. If that’s rebounding, defending, cool.’’

Meanwhile, the Knicks can’t just focus on Wembanyama and forget about the players surrounding him.

Stephon Castle, the 6-6 second-year wing, is averaging 19.2 points per game and a team-high 6.7 assists. Guard De’Aaron Fox, who starred with the Sacramento Kings under Brown, is averaging 16.4 points, 5.9 assists and 4.0 rebounds in the playoffs.

Former St. John’s star Julian Champagnie is shooting 39.3% from three-point range and rookie Dylan Harper is averaging 13.1 points and 5.3 rebounds off the bench.

Robinson update

Brown said Robinson did some work at practice by himself, wearing some sort of device on his injured finger. He did not have an update about to the 7-footer’s availability for Game 1.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.