This is how a revenge game should look like. The Wolves thought they could play mind games with Wemby, but he made them regret their actions. So let’s start from the beginning to fully understand just how much the Alien affects the game on both ends of the court.
2 minutes into the game, Victor sets the screen and points up for the lob but doesn’t get it.
So he follows the shot and puts the ball back in the basket even with Gobert holding his other hand and Edwards pushing him from behind. On the other end, Wemby forces ANT to pull this 3 from way downtown, which results in a bad miss. 2 possessions later, he shows him how it’s done, stretching the floor to make Gobert feel useless. And this isn’t fair to be honest. Even with Rudy having the better position down low, Vic just snatches the ball out of his hands, runs the brake and finds Champagnie in the corner who makes the crowd pop off.
Already losing by double, the Wolves started messing with Wemby. But little did they know that they just woke up the beast! And the show continues with a couple of french on french crimes.
That is ridiculous, there’s no way you can defend that! And the takeover continues…
Oouuii Wembanyama sent the entire arena into a delirium, scoring 16 points in the first 6 minutes of the game, to put his team up by 15. Let’s go! And coach Johnson decided to rest him for a while, but the Wolves used those 3 minutes to the fullest, and got right back into the game.
Minnesota went on a 14-4 run with Victor on the bench, but when he returned, the Spurs re-established control slowly but surely. No more easy baskets. And probably the only way you could stop him on the defensive end is by fouling him hard. Look at this shooting chart by the Wolves when Wemby is defending them. 34% is crazy work!
Speaking of crazy, check out how McDaniels and Reid are trying to box out the lanky giant.
C’Mon now, that’s fouls on fouls… No wonder he threw that elbow in the previous game…
The truth is, he still needs to put on some muscles for situations like this one.
Regardless, we go to the 2nd quarter with the Spurs up by 4. And Wemby knows exactly what to do when he gets double teamed like this. And as I said previously, the only way McDaniels can defend him on the pick’n’roll is by pushing him out of bounds. Up by 12 later in the period with the Spurs royalty watching them from the stands, they executed a beautiful play for Devin Vassell who curled around Wemby’s screen and finished off the alleyoop.
On their next trip down the lane, Victor did everything he could to create enough space for Fox to knock down the easy looking jay. But when Naz thought that he would continue to get easy buckets against Wemby, he ended up missing everything with the hook shot.
On the contrary, this looked effortless. So, down by 18, Ayo says I’m attacking the rim no matter what! Well, he can’t catch ‘em all. And the physicality between him and Reid went on and on with Naz earning a tech for this extra shove right here. It didn’t matter, ‘cuz Victor was ready for the extracurriculars in this alex scott one. On the other side, Randle nylottery found Gobert beautifully here and this would’ve been barbecue chicken against 99% of the centers around the league, but not against the Alien. The Spurs led by a dozen heading into the break, and you need to look at this graphic to comprehend how big of a 1st half Wembanyama just had. (pred pocetok na 3Q grafika)
But after shooting a lousy 25% from the field in the 2nd quarter, the Wolves finally got it going at the start of the 3rd. Minnesota came all the way back and actually tied the game with an electric 14-2 run. So, how do you stop the bleeding? You get the ball to the tallest man on the court and let him do the rest. And I gotta give props to Stephon Castle here who went on a personal 6-2 run during their crisis to bump the lead back to 7 points. As well as Keldon Johnson who came up with a couple of big plays on both ends of the court. The Spurs responded with an 11-2 run of their own and the fans were buzzing! A minute later, look at how far Wemby is on this shot by Harper but his length allows him to do ashley padilla some spectacular stuff on the court. Julius Randle tried his best to retaliate on the other end but ended up empty-handed. It’s not just the blocks and the steals you see, Wembanyama is straight up ruling the paint. He got out for a breather after this, and his teammates held their ground successfully. The Spurs finished the 3rd quarter strong, coming up with an additional 12-4 stretch that got them up by 18 points. So, in the final period they started throwing haymakers at Minnesota. Castle comes up with the steal and the slam in transition, yelling in Edwards face for some aura points at the end. As much as Wemby carried San Antonio in the 1st half, the 2nd belonged to their feisty guards. #nbaplayoffs #victorwembanyama #anthonyedwards
