Wemby Watch: Victor Ignored, Then Briefly Featured in Loss to Clippers

Story of The Game

Spurs teammates mostly ignored the 7'4 generational talent for the first 70% of the game and then a switch was flipped and Victor was fully integrated into the offense until he was taken out early in the 4th. Victor provided an initial spark, but the Spurs quickly surrendered all progress due to turnovers, bad decisions, and Victor’s own mistakes.

Victor Stats

9 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 blocks in 27 minutes

4–12 fgs, 0–4 3 fgs

Quick Thoughts

The Spurs all-world super phenom was typecast as just a really tall role player by his teammates and his coach until he was re-inserted into the game at 2:49 in the 3rd quarter.

From that point until 9:07 in the fourth, Victor was featured prominently as he should have been all season.

But Victor only took partial advantage, settling for and missing multiple off balance jumpers.

Tre Jones played a large part in shutting the door on Victor’s opportunity, throwing a horrible alley oop pass and completely missing Victor for a much easier, open alley-oop.

It shouldn’t have to come to Victor trying to squeeze in all of his production in just a few minutes. When he’s not involved, it clearly shows because he then forces the issue which means less patience and lower quality shot selection.

Also, Pop continues his OCD of shaving minutes off Victor’s playing time, which means less opportunities and contradicts part of Pop’s ongoing excuse for not having any semblance of a game plan (observe and learn how Victor plays).

Victor was at the scorer’s table to come back in at 4:15 left in the 4th but by then the game was well beyond out of reach and Victor was called back, ending the game with only 27 minutes played.

For the majority of the game, the Spurs largely played iso-ball. And when an offensive set was actually run, it Zach Collins who was the ball was directed at most.

The outcome of this game was basically a foregone conclusion once Devin Vassell was declared out. Vassell is a rising star who is easily the team’s best talent behind Victor.

Pre-Game Setup

The Clippers-Spurs matchup is game #14 for the Spurs.

Betting: Spurs +8.5, Over/Under 230

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

The last time the Spurs played the Clippers (October 29), the contest took place in L.A. and the Spurs were destroyed by 40 (123–83) in the third game of the season.

Victor only played 26 minutes, tallying 11 points and 5 boards in one of his worst games.

This time around, the Clippers travel to San Antonio.