After missing Thursday’s game with soreness in his right ankle, Victor Wembanyama appeared to be back to 100% as he dominated the Hornets on Saturday, writes Michael C. Wright of ESPN. The star big man posted 32 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists, four blocks and two steals as the Spurs improved to a league-best 17-2 since the start of February.
“It’s been really good for us to go through these games and find out about other teams and find out about ourselves,” coach Mitch Johnson said. “We’ve had to be in a lot of different types of games, whether it’s a little bit open or having to cover a lot of distance defensively, matching some physicality, late-game execution, seeing different ways that people guard us. All these experiences are, hopefully, lessons we turn into knowledge and wisdom moving forward.”
Wembanyama will be a top contender for Defensive Player of the Year honors and may be an MVP finalist as well, but only if he reaches the 65-game minimum to qualify. He can miss three more games over the rest of the season, and Johnson talked about the challenge of getting Wembanyama to that mark while still protecting his health.
“Victor has the longest things he wants to do that are important probably in the history of basketball,” Johnson said. “They all are important to me as well. There’s a lot that goes into that, and at times, we have to make tough decisions. Because on that long list, there are still things that we prioritize and put on the top of the list. But that guy, I think, is going to challenge us as long as we’re all here to continue to match that desire to keep checking things off that list.”
There’s more from San Antonio:
- Rookie guard Dylan Harper was held out of the game with a right calf contusion, Wright adds. Johnson called him day-to-day and said there’s “no long-term concern.”
- Wembanyama rekindled his “French Vanilla” connection with Luke Kornet on Saturday, setting Kornet up for a pair of alley-oop dunks in the third quarter, per Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News (subscription required). The double-big lineup is popular with fans, but Johnson said it’s a “math problem” to keep both players on the court at the same time because Kornet plays most of his minutes when Wembanyama is resting. The scarcity of practice time that affects all NBA teams is also an issue. “If we haven’t trained and worked it out and really have a clear direction of what we’re looking for in certain situations,” Johnson said, “it’s tough than to ask them to go out in a game like that and execute at high level.”
- Three-point shooting was a weakness for the Spurs in the past, but coming into today they were tied with Charlotte for the league lead in that category since the All-Star break, McDonald states in a separate story. San Antonio hasn’t made any significant roster moves to add shooting, so Johnson believes the improvement is a result of playing faster. “Our pace has been great, so we’re getting probably higher shot quality,” he said. “I think our offense has continued to clean up in terms of spacing, execution, awareness. And then that typically flows into expectation of where people’s shots come from.”