Wemby Watch: Warriors Overwhelm Spurs When Pop Sits Victor

Story of the Game

The Spurs were out in front and in control of this game and then they weren’t. The Warriors were making up some ground when Victor was in the game, but as soon as Pop took him out for an extended rest, the Warriors burst ahead and never looked back.

Victor Stats

27 points, 3 assists, 14 rebounds, 2 blocks in 31 minutes

10–25 fgs, 3–9 3 fgs

Quick Thoughts

I think Victor’s getting cheated on blocks. Two feels light.

Anyway, I didn’t post a Wemby Watch for the last two games because there was no Wemby to watch.

Unsurprisingly, Pop took advantage of a perceived tweak of Victor’s ankle and declared him out for two games. For the last game against the Warriors, Devin Vassell was out for good measure.

And they still won.

That wasn’t in the cards. That was supposed to be a gifted victory to Steve Kerr.

As for this game, we still see a lot of teammates not looking Victor’s way. Keldon Johnson still selfishly looks for only his own shot; he is gone if I’m the GM.

But the Spurs played well for the majority of the game and early on it looked like they would cruise to victory. However, Gregg Popovich sat Victor for an extended stretch with the game in the balance and that ended up being the difference in the game.

A few more thoughts:

• We’re back to chucker Victor. He shot 3 for 9 tonight and, I get it, he’s shooting better and he got a lot of wide open threes. However, he’s still gravitating beyond the arc too much for my liking.
• Victor’s hugging players after games now, much to my chagrin. I like the unfriendly Victor.
• The Trayce Jackson-Davis dunk was good, but he did push Victor’s arm out of the way. Also, I think the only reason he got it was because Victor got winded trying to carry the team back.

Last thing I’ll leave you with: continue to follow the Spurs win total arc. How much do you want to bet it doesn’t exceed the Blazers or the Hornets no matter how well the team plays?

Pre-game Setup

The Golden State-San Antonio matchup is game #65 for the Spurs.

Betting: Spurs +5.0, Over/Under 226

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

Betting Record going into the game 44–49–1.

The Warriors traveled to San Antonio for this contest.