Wemby Watch: Spurs Nearly Beat Chicago Despite Victor “Rest” Game, Sean Elliott Yields Dividends

Story of the Game

The Spurs took my original story of the game and pushed it to the undercard when they mustered a flurry of a comeback against the Bulls, despite not having Victor available.

In the first half, Tre Jones kept the Spurs afloat, and, in the second half, it was Keldon Johnson who nearly won the game for the Silver and Black.

But the Bulls stayed poised and the steady play of Alex Curoso, Demar Derozan, and Nikola Vucevic allowed the Bulls to pull out the game and a season sweep of the Spurs along with it.

This Spurs team definitely had the ability to make the playoffs this season were it not for Gregg Popovich.

Victor Stats

Out

Quick Thoughts

The Spurs played carefree with confidence and aggression in the second half and they nearly avalanched a veteran Bulls squad to victory.

The Spurs were just attacking and flowing, as they should be in every game. I mentioned this after the Celtics game:

The younger Spurs should always be attacking and playing with aggression, putting opponents on their heels.

Why not take it to opponents? What have they got to lose?

Also, I’ve written about Keldon’s ability to flex into a star multiple times, including the recent Spurs-Bucks game:

And Jeremy and Keldon are super role players with Keldon having the ability to moonlight as a semi-star.

We saw that star come out tonight against the Bulls. Keldon has a lot of energy and enthusiasm ready to be unleashed and he gave the Bulls have a lot of buckets tonight.

In the first half, it was the Tre Jones show. Jones scored 22 first half points and finished with 30 alongside 9 rebounds and 4 assists.

And from 6:44 in the third until the end of the quarter, Keldon Johnson scored 12 points, punctuated by two threes in the final 47.1 seconds. Keldon finished with 26.

Despite being down by as much as 18, the Spurs rallied and even held a nice lead that looked like it would carry over to a victory.

But the Spurs needed a little more oomph and ultimately fell to a veteran Chicago squad who deserved the win. It should be noted that Ayo Dosunmu went 8–9 for 21 points in 29 minutes off the bench which really helped the Bulls stave off San Antonio.

One other tidbit: part of what makes Keldon so capable is what also makes him fallible. Keldon had a blackhole sequence two possessions in a row and Sean Elliott called it out (though he didn’t mention Keldon specifically):

To paraphrase:

That’s two plays in a row where our guys went in there (the paint) and sucked in the defense and we had guys wide open on the perimeter.

This commentary was made right after Keldon drove into the defense twice in a row and failed to convert on forced, difficult attempts.

I tuned in specifically for any Sean Elliott commentary on Victor sitting out for a “rest” game and I did not leave empty handed.

During the Spurs blowout win against the Hornets, I counted four separate times where Elliott made a non-endorsing comment on Victor’s arbitrary mandatory minutes restriction and “rest” game on back-to-backs.

Clearly, Sean is irked by the 19 year old rookie sensation not being able to play.

Which made the Bulls game, Victor’s actual rest game, must see TV because there was a chance Sean would dash in some more commentary.

To open the game, he didn’t say anything when play-by-play man Bill Land brought up Victor being out. Instead, he just kind of grimaced and looked like he took an accidental bite out of a lemon while he was on a second date and tried to play it off.

But mid-second quarter, the people (me) got what they came to see.

After Tre Jones had poured even more points in his career best first half, I believe there was a break in play or there was a timeout. At this juncture, Sean said, “Good thing he’s not on a minutes restriction. He’s the only guy putting the ball in the basket.”

Bill Land added, “Well said.”

If Sean’s disagreement with Pop is making its way onto the Spurs broadcast, can you imagine what’s being said behind closed doors?

Not just by Sean, but by everyone.

Sean is not just a former player who happened to get a job as the Spurs color analyst. Sean is a very well connected insider with a strong network.

The Spurs have played much better of late and they snagged two wins which has helped things, but the matter of Pop tanking and Victor not playing isn’t over.

Actually, tonight may cause a flare up because they would have won had Victor played.

I can’t wait until Sean Elliott is named head coach of the Spurs. He is the obvious, obvious choice that is staring the Spurs ownership in the face as they witness their recently extended legendary coach throw away Victor Wembanyama’s rookie season.

Read why Sean Elliott should be the Spurs next head coach.

Pre-Game Setup

The Bulls-Spurs matchup is game #38 for the Spurs.

Betting: Bulls -5.5, Over/Under 226.5

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

Betting Record going into the game 24–23–1.

The Bulls travel to San Antonio for this contest.