For most of a rookie season that's exceeded high expectations, Victor Wembanyama has been one of the few consistent bright spots for the San Antonio Spurs. But recent victories against good teams and improved individual play by several of San Antonio's key guys have the Spurs at one of their highest points of the season.
“For me, the obvious answer is always be a leader by example first,” Wemby said following a 117-15 win versus the Indiana Pacers on Sunday.
“I believe in those guys as much as they believe in me, so it's really a beneficial relationship. We know what we have, we know where we want to go, and we're going to trust each other. As much as I can, I've tried to lift my teammates up every time.”
Victor Wembanyama is raising his teammate's games
Six Spurs scored in double figures in the victory against the Pacers. Following Victor Wembanyama's game-high 31 points, Malaki Branham added 18. Keldon Johson and Devin Vassell scored 17 each.
“He's our guy. We play off of him and he's steady, steady, steady, steady. Never get too high, never get too low. We feed off that even when teams make runs. He's definitely one of a kind,” Johnson said of Wemby
Also in double figures off the bench was Zach Collins with 11 points. Jeremy Sochan notched 12 points.
“We are just trying to build good habits. We continue to stick together,” Johnson added.
“We lose them together and we win them together. You learn important things when you lose a lot of close games, and we're starting to piece it together. But this is just the beginning. I feel like we just got to keep growing, keep listening to our coaches, keep watching film and keep correcting things that we can control going forward.”
Wemby's effect all the way around
An opposing player in the Spurs' second straight victory also chimed in on the the top pick of this past summer's draft.
“You really don't want to go to the rim if he's down there. [He's] an elite shot blocker,” Pacers guard TJ McConnell said, “I think for the most part, I was telling our bigs to kind of stay lifted so he wasn't down there as much, so we could just kind of draw him out of the paint and take advantage of that.”
While most opponents have taken advantage of the Spurs' youth and relative lack of talent, not many have taken advantage of the generational prospect this season. Wembanyama just won his second NBA Rookie of the Month and leads the league in blocks for the season.
“It starts with the defense. You got to play the D. You got to board to get the ball. But after that, I thought we kept our composure,” Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said of his team's effort Sunday.
“We ran only a couple of plays down the stretch over and over again, for obvious reasons, and we got some good cuts. We got some free throws. They did a good job.”
With Wemby lifting the Spurs tide, Popovich can afford to simplify things a bit because the 20-year-old phenom is already making things easier for his teammates.
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