Victor Wembanyama completely dominated the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night, scoring 37 of his 40 points in the first half as the San Antonio Spurs ran away with an easy victory against a shorthanded team without their entire starting lineup.
This performance was a bit different than the first two contests between these teams as Wembanyama scored just 35 points combined in those games. But this one was a completely different story and Lakers coach JJ Redick spoke about his aggression and how the Spurs phenom took over the game on both ends of the court.
“Yeah, I mean we’ve done a good job historically. He’s had good games. Again, I’m not saying like we’ve shut him down, but we’ve limited him with our coverages against him. We just didn’t execute those,” Redick said after the game. “And he was very aggressive, as aggressive to start a game as I’ve seen him both in attacking the basket and in shooting without hesitation from three.
“[He] just really put his imprint on the game in that first half. And with the guys we had out there, it was hard to create shots at the rim. I think we took five; we were 2-for-5 at the rim in the first half. Just not a lot of rim attempts for us. They’re one of the best, if not the best, at protecting the rim. But [we] just weren’t able to generate that. We scored whatever it was, 55, but had 14 non-paint twos. I kind of figured that there’s gonna be some of that tonight. But to me, it was the defense.”
Perhaps the scariest part about Wembanyama is that he is only 22 years old and will be around for many years to come. And while Redick understands he and the Lakers will have to deal with him for a very long time, he is trying not to think about that.
“Yeah, I don’t really think about that,” Redick added. “But yeah, I know right now, we’ve gotta contend with him. He’s one of the five best players in the world. He’s put that stamp on himself, and it’s more than, to me, it’s more than counting stats with him because there’s such an avoidance of him defensively. And there’s an awareness you have to have from him defensively.
“Sean [Sweeney] has done a good job this year with their defense and he’s the center of that. He impacts the game in ways that don’t show up in a box score. On top of that, he’s one-of-one as a human. You can see the collective belief and collective culture that they’ve established over the last few years with him.”
The Western Conference is set to be a war zone for many years, not only because of Wembanyama and the Spurs, but also the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder, plus the Denver Nuggets will always be tough as long as Nikola Jokic is around.
But there is simply no other player like Wembanyama and he is only getting better meaning Redick and the Lakers will have to figure out some way to deal with and, hopefully, overcome him in the coming years.
Lakers’ LeBron James ineligible for regular season awards
Victor Wembanyama figures to be a fixture for many awards and All-NBA teams in the present and future, much like Lakers superstar LeBron James. However, that won’t be the case for LeBron this season as he is officially ineligible for any regular season awards due to the amount of games he has missed.
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