Wemby Watch: Spurs Drop Mildly Competitive Game to Jazz
Story of the Game
I was actually in San Antonio for this game — I sat 7 rows back behind the basket nearest the Jazz bench so I had an up close but distorted view of the game.
Between the view and the busy atmosphere (there was so much to look at), I could only extract so much, but the story of the game from my angle seemed to be Lauri Markkanen playing very hard nosed defense against Victor and creating significant problems for him.
The Spurs did look for Victor more, but he didn’t have the same opportunities because Markkanen stuck close and outphysicaled him.
Victor Stats
15 points, 4 assists, 7 rebounds, 5 blocks in 24 minutes
6–15 fgs, 1–4 3 fgs
Quick Thoughts
The Spurs had moments in this game. They got up double digits in the first quarter, the Jazz salted the lead away and then pulled ahead, but the Spurs drew close a few times in the third quarter.
Ultimately, the outcome was a safe and comfortable margin for the Jazz, with the final score 130–118.
Victor was on a minutes restriction again and, in the first half, he actually hurt his ankle but the Spurs played on and he was able to walk it off.
This was a victory of sorts for the Spurs in that everyone (Pop) saw that Victor isn’t made of paper mâché.
But the after game prognosis may call for missed games and, if so, I’d co-sign — Victor was in real anguish as soon as it happened.
If he needs to miss 10 games to flatten these ankle issues, there will be zero complaints from me.
Anyways, the game went on and Victor didn’t show any obvious signs of pain. Victor had started the game off with some momentum so the injury may very well have slowed him.
What is certain is he did show reluctance to go back at Markkanen. As I said, Markkanen was maximum physical with Victor and Victor mostly went along with whatever Markkanen wanted the positioning to be.
Part of this is on Victor. Part of this is just learning how to position. And part of this is on the Spurs not really having an offense.
A few other thoughts:
- Victor is unpredictable on defense. Sometimes he’ll rotate, other times he’ll completely lose track of what he’s doing, and other times he’ll fall back and roam the paint.
- Also, Victor has a weird habit of being impossibly far out from a three-point shooter (like there’s not a chance even Victor could block the shot) and he’ll mock like he’s still contesting. It’s a strange habit, maybe it used to work with inferior competition.
- Victor seems to have a good rapport with a lot of his teammates. He and Devin Vassell had good interactions and he was very celebratory, from the bench, of a highlight play Keldon Johnson made.
I felt like this was a mildly solid outing from the Spurs. They played a quality opponent and had some good moments. In the end, they wilted but it looked like a game where the Jazz hit shots and played well and deserved to win.
And thus, this game serves as a pressure release of sorts. Despite the loss, Victor was involved and the Spurs played better as a team.
P.S. I almost became someone who had tickets in advance and then the superstar sits out the game. Yesterday it was very much in doubt whether Victor would play, but I think Victor being “not happy” with sitting against the Mavs may have propelled Pop to make the right call.
Pre-Game Setup
The Utah-Spurs matchup is game #29 for the Spurs.
Betting: Spurs +3.5, Over/Under 242.5
(Guess-Prediction: I’ll take the Spurs and the over.)
Betting Record going into the game 15–14–1.
The Jazz traveled to San Antonio for this contest.
