Wemby Watch: Spurs Shoot 5–41 on Threes vs. Rockets, Lose 17th Straight

Story of The Game

The Spurs shot 5–41 from three. If they make just 25%, they likely pull out a win.

Victor played a decent but flawed game, and there were several other defeciencies for the team as a whole. But a bullet point list of what went wrong lacks potency when you see start with by looking at the three pointers on the stat sheet.

It’s just that almost every complaint filed can be mooted with the three point ineptness, for this game, at least.

Victor Stats

15 points, 3 assists, 18 rebounds, 5 blocks in 33 minutes

7–15 fgs, 1–6 3 fgs

Quick Thoughts

I thought this game was another in the right direction. In the Bulls game, the Spurs looked like a real team at times and the same was true against the Rockets.

The Rockets contest was worse than a rock fight, but we also positive signs from Pop and the players:

• Victor logged 33 minutes (another tick upwards)
• Set plays were run for Victor
• Spurs teammates obviously had orders to look for him
• The Jeremy Sochan experiment officially looks over

We’re still far from Victor being featured and teammates trying to take advantage of his abilities, but the Bulls and Rockets games were near dreams compared to most other games during the losing streak.

Now that Pop and his teammates are (more) holding up their end of the bargain, Victor needs to reciprocate the trust with stronger play and less mistakes.

Victor especially needs to stop relying upon the three as a go-to. Victor shooting three’s is fine, but he needs to punish opponents in the paint more; right now he’s making it easy on opponents.

Here are a few more bullet points from tonight’s game:

• At some point, don’t you start driving the ball rather than continuing to hoist at an 11% clip?
• Keldon Johnson and Malaki Branham suffer from extreme ballhog and tunnel vision syndrome. They’ll never be even B passers, but the Spurs coaching staff at least has to bring them to C+ competency.
• Victor needs a coach to work with him on positioning on both ends of the court. He’s constantly escorted around by defenders.
• Part of Victor’s problem this game was Ime Udoka had the Rockets pack the paint.
• Although Victor had a vicious dunk on Alperen Sengun, he was mostly passive with getting to the bucket.
• Pop tried to walk a tight rope by trying to squeeze more bench minutes for Victor and Devin Vassell in the fourth and it significantly reduced the Spurs chances of winning.
• Victor gets wild with his one-handed passes. I hate them. They’re too high of risk and some don’t even lead to clear shots. Pass the ball with two hands.
• Once upon a time the Spurs had a revered shooting coach named Chip Engelland. I remember the Spurs player shooting very well during his tenure. It’s too bad that guy is no longer around.

Pre-Game Setup

The Houston-Spurs matchup is game #22 for the Spurs.

Betting: Rockets -8.5, Over/Under 225

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

Betting Record going into the game 8–8.

The Spurs are in Houston for this contest.