Wemby Watch: Spurs Almost Top Injured Cavs, Despite Pop

Story of the Game

Cavaliers color commentator, Brad Daugherty, went from being balanced to thinking Jarrett Allen was the next coming after Allen blocked Victor’s dunk attempt and got Victor to bite on an up and under.

Allen was having a very good game, but Daugherty lost himself for a moment.

In the final minutes of the game, Victor showed why he’s unparalleled; Victor’s competitiveness took over and leveled Daugherty’s commentary.

Victor spiked a Jarrett Allen layup and scored on a variety of plays.

However, the Spurs comeback fell just short after Jeremy Sochan threw a ball out of bounds for reasons we may never know.

But Sochan’s turnover was merely the last real chance the Spurs had. The actual reason the Spurs lost comes back to Gregg Popovich’s anti-competitive coaching.

What Daugherty may not have realized is that Allen did most of his damage with Victor on the bench. Moreover, Daugherty may not know that Victor doesn’t get to play much more than half a game because Gregg Popovich refuses to play him over 26 minutes a game due to an arbitrary “mandatory” minutes restriction.

Victor Stats

24 points, 3assists, 10 rebounds, 5 blocks in 25 minutes

6–13 fgs, 2–5 3-point fgs

Quick Thoughts

Devin Vassell carried his strong offensive play against the Bucks to score 12 points in the first eight minutes of the game and the Spurs were humming along. But Gregg Popovich quickly brought the momentum to a standstill by sitting Vassell at the two minute mark and not bringing him back until 7 minutes and 7 seconds later.

Tell me you don’t want to win without saying it.

Of course, Victor was still on his arbitrary minutes restriction and only hit 25 minutes. Were he able to play a normal amount, the Spurs probably win the game.

Gregg Popovich’s anti-competitive coaching is really starting to steal the spotlight during Spurs games because it’s hard to talk about the actual play when there’s obvious artificial interference in the Spurs players trying to win.

Some of my other notes from the game:

• Victor gets caught in no man’s land on defense sometimes, he’s better off not even showing and staying with his man.
• Victor was taken out at 7:34 in the first quarter, that’s not even 5 minutes in, I think Pop just set a new record.
• Dominick Barlow is looking like a legitimate backup big man, I think he’s improved. His in-between shot is going in and he’s exhibiting real effort and toughness.
• Victor advancing the ball up the court needs to be reserved for when there’s an advantage to it. Otherwise, it works out poorly for the Spurs because their best scorer is bringing the ball up the court rather than getting in position. Also, Victor’s got a great handle but he’s still very susceptible to turnovers.
• I dislike when garbage players like Tristan Thompson go out with the intention of only being physical with Victor. They have no skill and only pose an injury risk because the only way they can be competitive is to chop at him, take hard fouls, etc. The NBA needs to watch this type of behavior closely.
• Victor is still catching the ball outside the three point line too much and it puts him in a position to fail. The Spurs cede their advantage and the best big man in the world assumes the role of a distributor or three point shooter.
• Early on Victor was driving into a collapsed defense. The Cavs were effectively packing the paint. This was when the Spurs needed to open up the game with their shooting.
• Victor is a really, really good passer.
• The Spurs desperately need to work on their shooting. The Spurs are the 4th worst shooting team in the league (45.5%) and the second worst three point shooting team in the league (34.2%). I continue to lament the departure of Chip Engelland.

P.S. Georges Niang is out of shape. He needs to lose 15 lbs stat.

Pre-Game Setup

The Cleveland-Spurs matchup is game #35 for the Spurs.

Betting: Spurs +10.5, Over/Under 231.5

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

Betting Record going into the game 20–21–1.

The Spurs travel to Cleveland for this contest.