Victor Wembanyama’s San Antonio Spurs continue to sink in the NBA. A disastrous last quarter led them to an 8th defeat in a row on Saturday, against Memphis (120-108), a limited opponent from whom they took last place in the Western Conference.
In front of the Grizzlies for three quarters of the match, with a maximum lead of 19 points, the Spurs once again experienced a huge slump, this time during the disastrous 4th quarter (lost 33 to 14). Absent on the rebound and clumsy, the Spurs spent 5 minutes 30 without scoring during which they conceded a fatal 18-0. With 3 wins and 10 losses since the start of the season, the Texans take last place in the Western Conference in Memphis.
“We’ve already seen the film, we let our lead evaporate, we struggle in these physically tough moments where we become ineffective in attack. We need to find consistency to be able to continue to score,” said coach Gregg Popovich.
“We sometimes forget these efforts”
In the doldrums, Victor Wembanyama, clumsy at shooting (6 out of 17), still scored 19 points, took 13 rebounds, distributed 4 assists and delivered 8 blocks, his record, in 31 minutes. Very present in defense, he sank like his teammates in the last period (2 points), where he was the victim of an authoritarian counter from Jaren Jackson Jr (27 points) before committing an avoidable foul following a feint.
The difficulties “come from our individual commitment, from the efforts to respect the game plan. We sometimes forget these efforts, it costs us dearly. We have to get used to the different match scenarios. We have to do better in the second halves,” regretted the Frenchman.
Drafted in No. 1 in June by a team last in the Western Conference last season, “Wemby” is having a successful debut in the NBA on an individual level with good statistics (19.3 points on average) but complicated collectively, as expected in the youngest squad in the league, which will host the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday.