The San Antonio Spurs fell to the Miami Heat for their 5th straight loss, but here are three Victor Wembanyama takeaways.
Add it to the reasons Victor Wembanyama is so intriguing. The 7’4 phenom’s performance in the San Antonio Spurs 118-113 loss to the Miami Heat doesn’t register as one of his best performances to start his NBA career.
The top overall pick in June’s NBA Draft shot 8-for-22, including struggling on 2-for-9 from three-point land as the Spurs blew a 19-point lead in losing their fifth straight game. All that said, Wemby played his best all-around game statistically, scoring 18 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and dishing out seven assists.
Let’s go into greater detail in our ‘3 Takeaways’ from Wembanyama’s outing vs. the defending Eastern Conference champions.
Like a boxer who effectively closes out rounds with a flurry, Victor Wembanyama scored four points in a span of 31 seconds to end the first quarter. The two baskets tripled the French star’s scoring total to six and helped grow his team’s lead to 14.
After quiet second and third quarters, Wemby opened the fourth with a defensive rebound on the first possession before hitting a lefty in the lane. Less than a minute later, he completed an alley-oop dunk off a pass from Malaki Branham. A three-pointer with 9:36 remaining in the game meant Wembanyama had scored seven points inside two and a half minutes.
“Every game is different but it’s always one of my priorities to be aggressive. It’s always something I think about,” Wembanyama responded when asked by ClutchPoints if he made a concerted effort to play more aggressively on Sunday.
Opponents have had success in double-teaming the rookie phenom, often throwing him off by running a second defender at him once he starts to make a move. As the Spurs controlled most of the game vs. the Heat, Wemby found open teammates out of the post and double teams.
Combine his seven assists with 11 rebounds, which fell just one short of his career-high (12 against the Houston Rockets) and an 18-point showing that was within a basket of his 19,7 scoring average, and Sunday easily marked the closest Wembanyama has come to his first NBA triple-double.
Normally even-keeled when he addresses the media, Victor Wembanyama had a different demeanor following Sunday’s outcome. Though his answers to questions aren’t usually long, they were shorter and quicker to the point after his team fell to 3-7.
Leave a Reply