Wemby Watch: Conspiracy Checkers Night in the NBA as Spurs Beat Pelicans

Story of the Game

Willie Green, the coach of the Pelicans, wanted no part of Pop’s over the top kisses and hugs after the tanking Spurs beat his Pelicans who now uncomfortably sit in the play-in bracket.

The Pelicans elected not to play a questionable Zion Williamson (finger) and fellow star Brandon Ingram was out with a recent injury which meant the Pels were without their two top players.

But Green had to factor in the Spurs status into sitting Zion. The Spurs were without their 2nd, 3rd, and 4th best players and are in an ongoing race for the 3rd worst record in the NBA.

Early on it looked like resting Zion would pan out. The Pelicans were up by 9 after one quarter and Sidy Cissoko was logging minutes in the first half; the Spurs looked like they would fade into a mildly contested loss.

But thanks to 20 points in 25 minutes from Davante Graham along with double figures from Zach Collins and all starters, the Spurs rose to the occasion and beat a team that really needed a win.

One thing I happened to notice well before the game ended was the Hornets beat the Magic. Could wind of the Hornets win have opened up the freedom for Pop to go for it?

Or maybe the Spurs just won thanks to Mamu and others playing like super role players.

Victor Stats

17 points, 9 assists, 12 rebounds, 3 blocks in 34 minutes

5–12 fgs, 3–6 3 fgs

Quick Thoughts

I had so many thoughts during the game but I didn’t write them down because the game was airplaying from my phone. Here are as many as I can remember:

• It should be a crime for Victor to guard Jonas Valanciunas. It should be a crime punishable by even greater penalty if Victor guards Jonas when another 4 or 5 is in the game (Zach or Mamu in this case). I find there to be great incongruence in Pop sitting Victor out for any slight perceived injury in the middle of the season and yet he lets him absorb blows from and wrestle with the Pelicans behemoth. Victor doesn’t have the frame to be battling massive centers in the paint.
• Blake Wesley is such a bad shooter, he’s not rosterable on a real NBA roster. At no point did I think any of his outside shots were going in.
• Blake Wesley, Malaki Branham, and even Tre Jones made some inexplicably bad turnovers. Some of the passes that were being thrown make you wonder how these guys ever made it to the league. Tre Jones somehow is a solid backup point guard and yet has horrible touch on his passes.
• Speaking of horrible touch, it finally dawned on me that Victor may have bad touch around the basket. He often takes a bad angle on his left hand semi-hook shot off the glass and, in general, he needs to shoot the ball much softer in the paint — like Nikola Jokic.
• Also, Victor’s hands need work in terms of catching the ball. The old adage of just throw it up and Victor will get it is proving false. Too frequently Victor does not come up with the ball or convert the bucket.
• Victor’s unselfishness is mostly a good quality, except for when he’s passing up quality shots to rotate the ball. In a Basketball 101 sense, he might be making the right play. But in a we-live-in-this-world-sense, the 7'4 franchise guy should take the shot when he’s near the hoop.
• Zion has a stupid loop earring.

Last, I’ll leave you with this: do you remember when Shaq came in during his rookie year and took the league by storm?

I do. It was an event any time the Magic were in town.

This should be the same for Victor.

But he’s not getting the same fanfare. I think a lot of people, including Gregg Popovich are taking Victor for granted.

However, I will say it was great to see this game go down to the wire and really draw in the New Orleans fans.

Pre-game Setup

The Pelicans-San Antonio matchup is game #77 for the Spurs.

Betting: Spurs +12, Over/Under 219.5

(Guess-Prediction: I’ll take the Spurs and the over.)

Betting Record going into the game 53–56–1.

The Spurs traveled to New Orleans for this contest.