Wemby Watch: Spurs Use 3 Point Barrage To Blowout Kings, Victor Pours In Jumbo Stats
The Sacramento Kings unluckily ran into a buzz saw Spurs team last night. The Spurs went 22–46 from three-point range, seemingly hitting one or two threes every time the Kings managed to string together a mini-run.
The Kings are a legitimately strong team likely headed for the Western Conference playoffs, and it was clear they were the more solid, organized squad compared to the young and disjointed Spurs.
But that didn’t matter. In a game that perfectly illustrated the NBA’s shift toward a three-point-heavy style, the Spurs kept firing away from beyond the arc, connecting at such a high rate that the Kings could never catch their breath.
Of course, everything works when you’re hitting 50%, but this win felt like fool’s gold. Even though the Spurs won by 20, it’s easy to imagine a scenario where they cool down to a respectable 37.8% from three and lose.
Victor Wembanyama
Victor continued his strong shooting from the Jazz game, hitting 6 of 12 from three. He had a rough patch with a few bad misses but bounced back, finishing with a marquee-worthy 34–14–6 stat line and 3 blocks.
While it all worked out tonight, I can’t stand all the threes. Those hot streaks dry up as quickly as they come. I’d prefer Victor stick to around 4–5 attempts from deep. The reason? He had several ultra-easy buckets whenever he didn’t pass up shots near the basket.
Overall, it was a strong performance by Victor, who also made things tough for Domantas Sabonis.
More Thoughts
Lucky or not, we’ll take the win. This is a W against another legitimate, high-quality opponent. If the Spurs pull off a home win against the Wizards on Wednesday, they’ll be sitting at .500.
As I noted in my season preview and predictions, this Spurs team is stronger than the over/under suggests. And they still haven’t played at full strength.
Imagine when Wemby fully gels with Chris Paul, Devin is back in full flow on offense, and Jeremy returns to action. And if they start involving Wemby more near the basket?
In this game, Mamu wasn’t heavily integrated, but he did hit 3 threes, which opened up the offense. Plus, we saw more signs that Stephon Castle is beginning to emerge.
Check out this ordering:
- Victor Wembanyama
- Jeremy Sochan
- Devin Vassell
- Chris Paul
- Harrison Barnes
- Stephon Castle
- Sandro Mamukelashvili
- Keldon Johnson
- Tre Jones
That’s 9 quality NBA players, albeit 3 are point guards.
Still, if Tre Jones absorbs all of Blake Wesley’s minutes and Mamu steals more of Zach Collins minutes, those are huge wins.
If the Spurs can continue to progress during Jeremy’s absence, the door to the playoffs is open. It’s not wide open because the West is so stacked, but it’s still open.
The Spurs need to work on the basics:
- valuing the basketball (16 turnovers tonight)
- outside shooting
- playing smarter (e.g., don’t foul a guy who is about to be blocked by Victor)
And, again, emphasizing getting easy, reliable buckets from Victor near the basket.
P.S. I didn’t see the Jazz loss because of travel and blackout restrictions. Ironically, I was in Salt Lake City. I saw they lost a close one to the Jazz, but I didn’t watch so I didn’t force the Wemby Watch for that game. One thought though: The Jazz plus Lauri Markennen are a much different team than without him.
