With an NBA best 26-6 record and having closed 2023 with six straight wins, the Boston Celtics are the envy of most teams across the league. Include the San Antonio Spurs in that group, though for the proud Silver and Black franchise, admiration may more immediately trump objective.
Gregg Popovich used the terms “All-Star talent” and “grit,” and said, “They’ve got the execution and are getting better all the time. That’s a tough challenge at this particular time for our group,” to describe the Celtics.
The best player in his group, Victor Wembanyama, also had plenty of thoughts on an organization that advanced to the Finals two seasons ago and has reached the conference finals in five of the last seven years.
Spurs' Victor Wembanyama on the Celtics
“Just looking at them, I can feel that compared to the last years, they have something extra this year. Of course, it's difficult to play against them and it's a good challenge. I think we learned. They made very few mistakes and that's inspiring,” Victor Wembanyama said of the Celtics following the Spurs' 134-101 loss on New Year's Eve.
While the Celtics boast several of the NBA's top players, there is one in particular who resonates with the top overall pick in last June's draft.
Wemby in awe of Kristaps Porzingis
“He's experienced and he knows how to use his body. He's someone who's been very interesting to me for years and it's good to finally be able to match up against him,” Wemby said of Kristaps Porzingis.
One of the league's first “unicorns,” the man now considered by many to be the ultimate unicorn (though he prefers alien as a nickname), shared how much he's watched the 7'2 native of Latvia who's now in his ninth NBA season.
“Not too much for film or lessons but he's someone I used to look up to as a kid,” the 19-year-old star continued. “Now that I'm in the league it happens more regularly than before but, of course, it's always different to play against that style of players.”
Perfecting the art of the block
While Porzingis' height nears Wembanyama's 7'4 frame, Wemby stands alone when it comes to blocked shots. The league leader at 3.1 per game, he opened up about that aspect of his game.
“It's more than just height. It's a lot of timing but also you've got to read and sometimes (you're) taking a risk because going to block means you're leaving your own guys sometimes. You can see the difference between talented shot blockers who can jump high or who are long and guys like Derrick White, for example, who have great timing and great reach,” Wembanyama added.
For Wemby, Sunday night also represented the embodiment of a continued personal learning curve.
“Every time is different, every game is different but there's always that question for me that I'm trying to have a big defensive role and there's always these questions about how much can I leave this player – can he shoot – how much space can I give him? How much space can I give him? How much can I help my teammates? There's always those questions.”
Though it was the French phenom's first meeting against the Celtics, as the NBA schedule moves on to the next calendar year he's beginning to face teams for a second, perhaps third time in a rookie season in which he's focused on defense as much as anything else.
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