Wemby Watch: Spurs Almost Come Back vs. Rockets, Lose Winnable Game

This was a winnable game from multiple aspects.

Not from the aspect of Jalen Green went supernova in the second quarter, giving the Rockets a crucial cushion, but because the Spurs couldn’t have performed worse in the first half and compounded their struggles in the second with a string of unforced errors and poor decisions.

Which gets me to what’s been increasingly on my mind since the season began: it’s time for Pop to go.

Last season it was the tanking — and that was reprehensible, but at least it served as an excuse.

This season, I look at him and I don’t see a guy who really cares and is pouring his all into the team so that they can win.

Contrast Pop with JJ Reddick. I have no idea if JJ is a good coach, but what is very obvious is JJ is trying hard; he really wants to make his mark in the league and he’s throwing the kitchen sink into making the Lakers a competitive team.

Sure, Gregg Popovich passes along words of wisdom and tosses in some basketball knowledge and direction, but he’s just not the guy he once was.

Pop used to ride the refs on bad calls and go at his players for making dumb mistakes. Now, most of the time I see him actually standing on the sideline, he’s sheepishly got his hands in his pockets.

This young team needs someone to make their flame burn even brighter and Pop no longer has that intensity or desire.

I would bet money that Sean Elliott would, however.

With all that said, Pop was 100% right about sticking with the tandem of Malaki Branham and Blake Wesley. I would have had them so far at the end of the bench, you’d have thought Blake Wesley was released from the team.

But they were instrumental in the Spurs seriously threatening to take this game back from the Rockets.

As right as he was, Pop did make the mistake of keeping Malaki in far too long and he ended up giving back some of the positive gains that he threw in.

Let’s go through some more of my game notes:

Victor Wembanyama Mostly Bad

First, I hated the Victor hero ball iso possession. Someone has to instill some basketball discipline into Victor. That was an absolutely horrible shot and it was exactly the type of low percentage attempt the defense would want him to take.

Certain realities need to be faced when it comes to Victor and one is that him dribbling out on the perimeter is a bad proposition for the Spurs.

Second, and relatedly, Victor can’t be nullified on offense by Dillon Brooks. The Spurs need to find a way to get him the ball close to the basket. Incredibly, for 95% of the game, Dillon Brooks kept Wemby away from any possessions where Victor was in strong position.

That the Spurs still can’t effectively get Victor in scoring position more often is an indictment on the grey beard on the sidelines.

By the way, Fred Van Vleet was also able to thwart Victor multiple times. We’re talking a guy that’s supposed to be the face of the league. As crafty as Van Vleet may be and as formidable as Dillon Brooks’ defense may be, Victor being a non-factor for the bulk of the game is unacceptable.

The good is that Victor was a force on defense and a monster on the boards. I did notice that he missed the memo on Steven Adams.

Dear Victor,

Steven Adams is the strongest man on earth. You’re not going to beat him with physicality. I nevertheless commend the effort and mentality.

Edit: One more memo:

Victor,

Trash talking Dillon Brooks because you finally got position on him down low and threw in a nice hook doesn’t really work. You should have been scoring on Brooks all game.

Chris Paul

Chris Paul showed he still has a lot of game left — his clutch and-1 three was huge, but there are several plays where you can see he’s not his former self.

His blown wide open layup being one example. His horrible missed pass turnover being another.

That said, I always like when Paul’s on the floor because the Spurs offense is a lot less circus-y when he’s in. I just wish he was all-time floor general and no one else got to handle the ball.

Another great part about Paul is I think he’s picking up on some of the head coaching duties that Pop isn’t fulfilling.

Keldon Johnson

The Rockets left the right guy open. Keldon kept getting open looks and ended at 0–5 for the night. His futility really ended up dooming the Spurs.

Other Thoughts

• The Spurs switching into zone worked really well. Good decision by Pop, but I’d have to rewatch to know if it took too long to get there.
• Sochan played well.
• Zach Collins contributed nicely.
• How come Mamu doesn’t get to play?
• Devin Vassell is sorely missed, but he’s going to fit in great when he gets backed.

There were some incredibly dumb mistakes from tonight’s game. Most of them are escaping me at the moment, but the bottomline is the Spurs could have very easily won this game.

And the takeaway is that their coach shouldn’t be so cavalier in dropping winnable games. There needs to be more of an intensity and push from within the huddle to execute on a plan and win the game.

I think the players are primed to level up, but I don’t think the coach is.