Rebuilding is not an easy phase to get out of. One may think that the San Antonio Spurs are getting out of draft lottery purgatory after they got Victor Wembanyama. But, development takes time and it was evident in their loss to the Houston Rockets. Coach Gregg Popovich could not get his team to execute better than the opponents which meant Ime Udoka and the Alperen Sengun-led squad could take advantage.
Allowing 45 points is simply inexcusable. The Spurs' defense anchored by Victor Wembanyama could not contain Alperen Sengun at all. They had plenty of opportunities to shut down what looked like a heliocentric offense on the Rockets' big man but just could not pull the stops. In the end, the Spurs permitted him to knock down 19 out of his 32 shots from the field. Whenever they were able to fully contest a shot, Sengun would swoop in which got him 16 rebounds, six of which came from the offensive side of the floor.
Clearly, Coach Gregg Popovich was not pleased with how the Spurs' schemes crumbled in the span of four quarters. However, he does understand that these a growing pains for his squad, via Jeffrey Garcia of KENS 5 – San Antonio.
“A young group needs to understand the road is a lot different than at home and it requires a little bit more mental toughness, and we didn't have that time,” he declared.
Everyone on the Spurs is very young. Their Western Conference-worst record of 13 wins can still get better as the season goes by. However, it will take a better shot diet and split-second decision-making for that to happen.
Spurs collapse at the Rockets' hands
The Spurs' defense on Sengun was not the only problem in this game. Their offense stagnated a lot of the time which made for easy reads on the Rockets' part. The ball was stolen away from their hands 15 times and their other three turnovers also were not much of a big help. Devin Vassell, Malaki Branham, and Keldon Johnson did combine for 60 points but it was to no avail. It was also an off night for Wembanyama as he just scored 10 points and notched 11 rebounds despite playing 30 minutes.
Will the Spurs find their groove soon?
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