It’s natural for people to want to outdo themselves when they’ve disappointed observers and evaluators at work. NBA teams are the same and usually come out guns blazing when they have been humbled.
The San Antonio Spurs got their turn to right that wrong on Wednesday.
Similar records don’t always mean rivals are in the same class. Yet, universally in sports, the way to reveal if they are for real is to have two of the top go head-to-head. In the Los Angeles Lakers’ case, they were without LeBron James and Austin Reaves, their second and third-best penetrators, severely weakening them. Yet there’s this NBA phenomenon in which the undermanned team upsets the superior unit, in part because they were slept on. These outings indicate how prepared the Spurs are to take advantage of a situation.
Winning is hard in the NBA, and they keep showing they can do it when things don’t go according to the game plan. It took working around a lack of 3-point shooting and offensive rebounding, plus they were sloppy with the ball for three quarters. Getting it done by any means is arguably the area where they’ve grown the most this year.
Additionally, now that they have a generational player in Victor Wembanyama and the Lakers have Luka Dončić, matchups between them will be appointment viewing for a long time. It was no different on Wednesday as both flashed greatness, in spite of the game being mostly one-sided.
* This was a big win for the Spurs considering they had split the first two matchups before entering Wednesday’s game. Considering they could be playoff opponents or possibly vying for the same seed by the end of the year, it puts them one game closer to owning the tie-breaker. It would be so sweet if they do match up because of history, incredible star power, and each side having a solid case for their best player being the future face of the league.
* Of course, Don Luka is the goods, but never forget how Pat Riley boldly said many years ago that Pistol Pete Maravich was the most overrated superstar ever because he didn’t play defense. As much as Dončić is one of the league’s heavyweight stars, criticisms about his defense are not unwarranted. In fact, being such a lazy defender waters down how remarkable he is a bit. It’s hard to imagine it doesn’t get old with some teammates that one guy has all the fun with the ball and doesn’t participate in the heavy lifting on the other side.
* Coach Mitch Johnson said Wembanyama was near his cap in minutes and that he won’t be playing 40 any time soon. He was also noncommittal about incrementally raising them because he wants to see how Wembanyama’s body reacts. This might frustrate observers who wish to see precautions eased after seeing how good he looks, yet Johnson is making the right call. He reminds me of a boxing trainer carefully maneuvering his prospect into fights with fewer intervals before taking the training wheels off and letting them go into a 12-rounder.
* It’s a treat to see Wemby off the bench, and him sounding sincerely cool about it when asked tells me a lot about the winner he is. He’s a super weapon, and being used in the reinforcements role reminds me of how much of a devastating weapon Kevin McHale was as a reserve for most of his career. He led the league in field goal percentage in consecutive years (not as a reserve), which seems like something Wembanyama could do down the line.
* The Lakers came into the game allowing 18.8 wide-open 3-pointers, but the Spurs could not capitalize on all of those openings with their ball and body movement. Not even one starter made a trey, yet they didn’t let the misses piling up affect their vigor to defend. That made things tough, but the Spurs countered it by logging their best defensive rating of the season on Wednesday (89.2). They needed that type of effort because they weren’t just limited from three, but also in second-chance scoring to their second-worst night of the year with just 6 points.
* As Stringer Bell once said on _The Wire_, “Put the word out there” that the Keldon Johnson Sixth Man of the Year hype train is at full speed ahead. Johnson’s scoring average could be a bit higher (13.5), but he is blowing away the other options in efficiency, except Goga Bitadze, who is a big man. He has been an indispensable part of the Spurs’ rise. On top of that, Johnson is third in total points (501) scored off the bench this season behind Jaime Jaquez Jr. (536) and Naz Reid (529).
See More:
* [Spurs Analysis](/spurs-analysis)
* [What we learned](/what-we-learned)
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