Wemby Watch: Spurs Two-Face vs. Milwaukee on National TV
Story of The Game
That was not the Spurs.
That was like the richest man’s version of the Spurs.
Apparently the Spurs got up for the TNT matchup and shined their boots because mistakes were down 85%, Pop was calling beautiful plays, the ball was moving on offense, the Spurs (Devin Vassell) were hitting shots, and Pop even let Victor play 2 minutes over his curfew.
Maybe that was a birthday gift.
Anyway, the contest was a near thriller in San Antonio and Wemby shined.
The Spurs would have won had Giannis not nailed two wide open threes. But he did and I’d much rather live or die by Giannis shooting threes vs. anything else.
Victor Stats
27 points, 1 assists, 9 rebounds, 5 blocks in 26 minutes
10–18 fgs, 2–8 3-point fgs
Quick Thoughts
Reggie Miller was in full narrator mode, excusing away the entire abomination of a season with the Spurs are young narrative.
But he might have given his lack of research away when he didn’t know how to pronounce Victor’s last name.
It’s not Wembanyana.
But surely Reggie poured over game film last night.
A few other thoughts:
- I was just thinking how I like Blake Wesley’s liveliness and then he ignored Victor on a fast break and got rejected, leaving another Victor dunk in the ether. My snap reaction was a G-league demotion or a roster cut. He’s really fast, but not that fast.
- Victor completely didn’t box out Brook Lopez on a free throw and the result was Brook had inside position as if he were the one closest to the bucket. You can’t out-height the NBA on everything, Victor.
- Jeremy Sochan had some really good moments in the game. He was distributing and looking for Victor and in general looking Swiss Army knife-ish. The guy is talented, he’s just played horribly.
- Victor wanted every bit of the Giannis showdown. He’s built for prime time. I love it. It reminded me of the NBA on NBC when the guys on the marquee would go right at each other.
Speaking of Jeremy being talented. This Spurs roster has real talent. After Victor, these three are real players:
- Devin Vassell
- Keldon Johnson
- Jeremy Sochan
And this is not just because Vassell went off tonight.
He’s been for real. Vassell has multiple all-star games in him.
And Jeremy and Keldon are super role players with Keldon having the ability to moonlight as a semi-star.
People trash the Spurs as having no talent because they’ve been losing. But it’s not for a lack of ability, it’s because they’ve been playing horribly — there’s a difference.
You saw it tonight. We saw it earlier in the season.
It’s true.
Young and no talent are just convenient outs that people fall back on. The truth is the Spurs have suffered from absentee coaching and leadership.
This team can win games and even though it’s been straight 3 losses since I predicted they would make the playoffs, I still think they can.
This team has bottled energy and they’re ready to unleash havoc on the NBA.
But they need someone to organize them and hold them accountable for mistakes.
They also desperately need a shooting coach. It’s too bad the Spurs cut Chip Engelland and now the Thunder have eight players shooting over 40% from three.
Whatever he was asking, I’m thinking he’s worth it.
Pre-Game Setup
The Milwaukee-Spurs matchup is game #34 for the Spurs.
Betting: Spurs +10.5, Over/Under 248.5
(Guess-Prediction: I’ll take the Spurs and the over.)
Betting Record going into the game 19–20–1.
The Bucks travel to San Antonio for this contest.
