Wemby Watch: ESPN Crew Calls Out The Obvious in Close Loss vs. Warriors

Story of The Game

The headline from Golden State is the ESPN crew speaking plain truths on the opposite-of-the-obvious approach of Gregg Popovich.

JJ Reddick said the Spurs the Spurs would be winning games if they were getting Victor the ball more.

After Malaki Branham looked off a clear Victor postup, Richard remarked, there was a time that if someone looked off Tim Duncan posting up, they’d be having a conversation with Pop on the bench.

Play-by-play announcer, Ryan Ruocco, also wondered for several seconds why Jeremy Sochan was the point guard given the staggering analytics gap between Tre Jones playing with Victor and Jeremy playing with Victor.

During another play, the crew also pointed out Victor being guarded by Chris Paul down low and yet the possession ended with Zach Collins shooting a three.

Victor Stats

22 points, 4 assists, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks in 35 minutes

8–18 fgs, 1–6 3 fgs

Quick Thoughts

This game was definitely a step in the right direction.

• We saw a bump in minutes for Victor (35).
• We saw more shots (18).
• We saw Devin Vassell and Jeremy Sochan making a point to look for the big man.
• And we also saw a much more competitive game.

Jeremy was slightly better handling the ball and was much better at looking up instead of looking at the floor.

Devin continues to impress. He’s worth every dollar of his recent five-year, $135 million contract. When I watch him, I keep thinking Jamal Murray-esque with more athleticism. He’s definitely behind Murray in multiple categories right now, but I view him in the same legitimate #2 guy category.

Victor and Vassell could evolve into a devastating 1–2 duo, especially if Devin continues to eagerly involve teammates (it wasn’t just Victor, he was continually looking for the right play.)

Let’s continue with the positives:

• Victor has real court vision and put the ball in prime position for teammates multiple times.
• Victor’s ball handling looked better than in previous games.
• The Warriors went on a double-digit run with Victor out but the Spurs made up significant ground when Victor was re-inserted.
• Pop drew up a post up for Victor out of a timeout and Victor put in a beautiful left handed hook-push shot. (shades of Tim Duncan)

Negatives:

• Victor must understand his teammates’ abilities better. He’s passing up nice shots for nifty passes but he needs to be aware of who can catch and convert and who can’t. Two examples: 1) Charles Bassey fumbles the pass away and 2) Malaki Branham gets a layup blocked.
• On one play, Victor ran the floor nicely, had open space, received the ball from Devin Vassell, but carelessly held out one hand and the ball glanced out of bounds.
• Another Victor miscue was trying to back down the defender from way too far out.
• As mentioned previously, Malaki Branham looked straight at Victor with clear post position and elected to chuck a three. This is selfishness personified and provides evidence that at least some of Malaki’s past ignoring of Victor was intentional.
• Tre Jones was the newest Spur to go out of his way not to pass to Victor. Tre can score proficiently but calls his own number too often.
• A few times teammates tried to get the ball to Victor but turned it over. This is subtly devastating. One example is Jeremy telegraphing a pass to Victor.

Despite the inconsistent play, the Spurs made an improbable charge late and were on the verge of getting back into the game when Gary Payton II lost the ball out of bounds (this appeared to be a favorable call on replay).

However, a Keldon Johnson missed a three which deflated the comeback chances.

The Spurs did still technically have room for a miracle but it appeared as if Pop told Jeremy not to call a timeout to advance the ball to preserve time for one last attempt.

Pop’s facial expression had the look of Jeremy was stupid for even asking (but this could easily be a misinterpretation by me).

Whether this happened or not, the Spurs had a timeout that could have given them a remote possibility at winning or overtime and Pop didn’t use it. The fact that he didn’t try irritates me.

Finally, Zach Collins came into the game shooting 30.5% on threes (in 57 attempts) and went 0–7.

Zach shot 37.4% last season in 147 attempts over 63 games.

Zach’s already way over his attempts pace from last year and the numbers say the Spurs are in line for a surge in Zach’s makes, but the Spurs need more consistency out of the former Gonzaga center.

0–7 from three, on mostly open attempts, in a close-ish game is a difference maker.

Pre-Game Setup

The Warriors-Spurs matchup is game #16 for the Spurs.

Betting: Spurs +10, Over/Under 236

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

Betting Record going into the game 2–2.

The Spurs travel to Golden State for this contest.