Victor Wembanyama's fourth quarter brilliance in Thursday's San Antonio Spurs victory over the Phoenix Suns overshadowed a blown 22-point lead. There was no escaping the loss of another lead of more than 20 points, though, because there were no Wembanyama heroics this time. After all, Wemby hardly saw the ball in the closing moments of Sunday's 123-116 loss to the Toronto Raptors.
Here are three takeaways from the Spurs' painful OT loss.
Spurs' big-lead woes continue
A game after rallying for a 20-point lead for an improbable Halloween night win in Phoenix, the Silver and Black let a 22-point lead get away two nights later.
Up by as much as 22 points in the first half on Sunday, the Spurs enjoyed a 19-point advantage at the intermission. The top overall pick in June's NBA Draft scored 14 in those first 24 minutes. And though San Antonio took a 15-point lead into the fourth quarter, the third period proved ominous. Wembanyama didn't add to the total.
By time Wemby scored his 15th and 16th points, the Raptors were on their way back. Credit Toronto's defense some for that. Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich did.
“We had a little more trouble with their length, their aggressiveness, and their ability to get in passing lanes. I think it slowed us down to the point where our offense wasn’t as smooth. So, they were able to come back for those two reasons. They did a good job,” Coach Pop said.
Wembanyama added, “Pop often says it’s important to play for the whole 48 minutes and even relaxing a couple of seconds is too much.”
Because of Wembanyama's 10 fourth quarter points in the second of back-to-back games against the Suns, the Spurs were able to get away with not sticking to Pop's directive in holding on to beat Kevin Durant and company for a second time in a week. They didn't get away with it against a Raptors squad vying for its first road win of the young season.
Why no Victor Wembanyama?
On Sunday, Wemby scored only four points in a fourth quarter that resulted in overtime. The 19-year-old super rookie scored the Spurs' first two points of the extra period.
Wemby didn't see the ball go through the hoop again, including a miss that circled around and touched every part of the rim but didn't go through the net. The shot came on a 3-point attempt, which was seemingly about the only way in which the French phenom could get a look.
“No, I don't think so. We're going to watch film and all get better as a team,” Wembanyama answered when asked whether he thought his teammates missed opportunities to get him the ball.
“We didn’t have as much down the stretch scoring wise,” added Popovich.
Raptors star shined
While the Spurs ran much of their fourth quarter offense through Jeremy Sochan, Zach Collins and Tre Jones, Scottie Barnes took over for Toronto. Seventeen of his game-high 30 points came in the fourth quarter. He hit back-to-back three pointers followed by a dunk to lead a Raptors charge in a final period they dominated 39-24.
The fourth overall pick of the 2021 NBA Draft then hit another trey to tie the game late before the decisive overtime.
The Spurs are right back it when they head to Indiana on Monday. They're again expected to be without second-leading scorer Devin Vassell, who's out with what the team calls a mild groin strain. It's San Antonio's first set of back-to-back games this season.
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