Wemby Watch: Joel Embiid Unstoppable in Scoring 70, Victor Strong in Limited Minutes

Story of the Game

The Spurs had zero active players on the roster who could even slow down Joel Embiid so this game was destined to be a loss.

But this isn’t anything against Victor. Victor was competitive and rose to the occasion, scoring 33 in his limited 28 minutes (Joel played 37 minutes). Also, Victor doesn’t have the thickness to prevent Joel from bodying him down to the basket so it’s not like this was a true one-on-one duel.

Joel Embiid likely has 80+ pounds on Victor so we have to be real about the situation. Even though Victor plays center a lot, he doesn’t have the body to match up with Joel Embiid just as he didn’t have the body to matchup with Mitchell Robinson, etc.

It’s not that Victor can’t give these guys problems, but he’s not going to win any feats of strength contests in the post. So, in a very real way, this was Victor playing out of position.

Sure, Victor is much taller than Embiid but his body is also closer to Kevin Durant while Embiid’s frame is closer to Shaq’s.

I thought Pop was clever in the few spots where he had Jeremy Sochan body Joel away from the basket and then placed Victor to loom behind, but the Spurs didn’t stick to this strategy for a long time.

One positive is Victor appeared to have had the most success against Embiid. In Zach Collins’ 20 minutes, Joel scored at will.

Victor Stats

33 points, 2 assists, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks in 28 minutes

10–19 fgs, 2–5 3 fgs

Quick Thoughts

Some things I liked:

• Sky blue finger nails Blake Wesley checking Embiid with a forearm shiver. That was 90s basketball-esque. You see a guy rolling, you give him something else to think about. Very nice. Another point for Wesley.
• Victor Wembanyama dashed inside a few times to claim rebounding position — on the offensive and defensive side. Great sign.
• Victor took this game very serious.

Also, there was one play when Victor was posting up Embiid where he came to a dead stop and just flipped the ball in the hoop. It reminded me a lot of Nikola Jokic.

One of Jokic’s biggest advantages is he doesn’t try too hard; he plays at an off-slow pace and it completely befuddles opponents because everyone else is playing at maximum effort.

On this play, Victor stole a page from Jokic and it worked perfectly. Victor can play out of control and try way too hard at times so if he studies more Jokic, it will help a lot.

Some things I disliked:

• Victor resorts to outside shots too much. He’s simply not a good enough shooter at this point to start pulling like he’s Doug McDermott. He’s only helping the defense. His damage is done in the paint.
• Victor led a fast break and passed to Blake Wesley too late. Wesley still got the bucket but Victor needs to learn to advance the ball by passing, not dribbling.
• Victor got caught up in a dueling quarter with Joel Embiid and became the one who was ignoring his teammates. A duel is fine if you’re getting good shots, but if you start chucking bad shots, it’s time to come back to regular play (which he did a good job of in the fourth).
• Jeremy Sochan makes some really stupid plays (like going up when his shot is certain to be blocked) and to make matters worse, his hands can turn to stone at any time. How many times are you going to look at your hands in exasperation before you realize you have a problem? There are too many unforced turnovers with zero explanation behind them. Jeremy is playing much, much more unselfishly of late so that’s a huge step forward, but his basketball IQ needs to also rise.
• The Spurs city jersey is ugly. I want to see them go back to regular white-silver-black jerseys.

Zach Collins Needs to Go

I thought the Spurs were coached competitively and played competitively, but there was simply nothing they could do.

The one guy who could have at least fought Embiid was Charles Bassey but he’s out for the season so it was the perfect game for Joel to have a free for all. If he played 5 more minutes, he could have had 80.

This game really showed how important it is to have a big guy with bulk on the bench.

Relatedly, I’d like to see Zach Collins go.

I had already thought this, but this game magnified all of Zach’s shortcomings:

• He’s the shooter-who-can’t-shoot who, the stretch 4–5 who in theory, spaces the floor but doesn’t really because he doesn’t make threes. He went 0–5 from three tonight.
• He’s got average athleticism.
• He gets bullied down low.
• He’s a bad rebounder.
• He’s a bad passer.

And, again, I’m not basing these conclusions because he got skated on by Joel Embiid. Embiid averages 35 points a game, he’s having his way with the entire league.

But this game did highlight many of Zach’s weaknesses and what’s worse is there isn’t a lot of upward mobility for Zach.

He’s 26 and in his 6th season. There aren’t untapped levels that we’re waiting on. This is about as good as Zach Collins is going to be.

The funny thing is I thought he was a super role player when I caught a few games from his Portland days, but with lots of game film on him from this season, I don’t see where he presents notable upside to the Spurs or really any team.

Can he be a nice role player on somebody’s bench? Sure, he has some value, but I’d like to bring someone in with a higher floor and a higher ceiling.

Why Joel Embiid Can’t Win in the Playoffs

It’s funny to say this after you watch someone have a record-breaking scoring night, but… I dislike Joel Embiid’s game.

The reason why I think he fails in the playoff is because:

1. He’s over reliant on foul calls.
2. He relies on a lot of pump fakes.
3. He’s unathletic and lacks agility (ability to move quickly and easily).
4. Defenses start to lock in / pack in in the playoffs so his flow starts to grind down.

In a way, there’s parallel with James Harden because The Beard routinely seeks out ref assistance and he routinely chokes in the playoffs.

When the foul calls stop coming, there goes 10–15% of those easy points. Which leads to second and third order effects like losing confidence, complaining to the refs, losing focus, etc.

Also, over the course of a seven game series, defenses start to pick up on your tendencies. The pump fakes aren’t as effective as the series wears on.

Think of all your top playoff performers. Think of your 1A guys who went out and won championships.

How many of them continually tried to bait fouls?

It’s few. The 1A guys don’t need the refs to score, they can just go get buckets.

Joel can score, for sure, but I don’t see him as a guy who can flat score. Much like Harden, he relies on craftiness.

The best thing that can happen to him is he integrates more of a post game with a drop step and a hook shot that bring him closer to the basket, rather than a post game where he fades back.

Otherwise, I see him as an annual flame out because those one-legged fadeaways start to get tight after the first round.

Pre-game Setup

The Philadelphia-Spurs matchup is game #43 for the Spurs.

Betting: Sixers -14.0, Over/Under 237.0

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

Betting Record going into the game 28–27–1.

The Spurs are in Philadelphia for this contest.