Wemby Watch: Spurs Collapse vs. Mavs Despite Victor’s Big Start

Story of the Game

Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs came out looking like they were on a mission. But in a far too familiar theme, they collapsed. This time the fall began in the second quarter and the Spurs never threatened again.

The Spurs were outscored 31–19 in the second and 32–14 in the second and Kyrie Irving inflicted most of the damage, hitting 15–22 shots for 34 points to go along with 9 rebounds and 7 assists.

On one play, Kyrie drove baseline on Victor and converted on a difficult layup in the paint. In his post game interview, Kyrie said Victor told him he got lucky.

To Victor: Champ, there was nothing lucky about it.

Victor Stats

26 points, 5 assists, 9 rebounds, 5 blocks in 27 minutes

10–21 fgs, 2–6 3 fgs

Quick Thoughts

First, this is yet another enormous collapse. The Spurs were literally up 15 at one point and were down roughly 30 at another. Sometimes this happens in the NBA. But for the Spurs, it’s happening every 5 games or so.

Someone should be taking a lot of blame for this — maybe the coach of the team should be criticized more and feel the pressure after signing his record contract.

When are we going to get past the 25–28 minutes stage for Victor’s playing time? The minutes restriction was officially lifted but, practically, that only means Victor plays 2–4 more minutes a game.

I couldn’t tell whether Kyrie was just too good or the Spurs defense was that bad. Some of the blame goes to Victor because he would never really commit, but how much blame can go to Victor when Spurs defenders didn’t put up an ounce of resistance to Kyrie?

Also, on the few times Victor fully committed, Kyrie passed for an easy bucket. Ultimately, this comes down to the on-ball defender being at fault. Kyrie is extremely talented and skilled at getting to the hoop, but there has to be some initial line of defense.

More quick thoughts:

• Victor had another solid stats, overall middling performance night. Sure he got stats, but did he play well?
• I was under the impression Zach Collins was in the first year of his two year deal. I looked it up and found out his extension starts after this season. That stings. Collins is horrible. I don’t consider him an NBA caliber player.
• Champagnie made an extremely stupid pass to Victor on the fast break. It was way too early and completely blew an easy bucket.
• Victor must learn to stop bringing the ball low. Maybe someone within the organization will start to instruct him on basics.
• I hate when Victor seeks out fouls. You’re 7'4, just play straight up.
• The Spurs continue to have Victor catch the ball away from the basket and it continues to not work at all.

Did you know the Spurs are literally the worst three point shooting team in the NBA?

Because they are.

Whoever the Spurs shooting coach is needs to be fired.

Not re-signing Chip Engelland was one of the dumbest moves this franchise has made in recent years and there have been a lot of dumb moves.

Pre-game Setup

The Dallas-San Antonio matchup is game #55 for the Spurs.

Betting: Mavericks -11.0, Over/Under 242.5

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

Betting Record going into the game 36–41–1.

The Spurs traveled to Dallas for this contest.