SAN ANTONIO, Texas — The perfect outcome for any Raptors fan tuning in to see Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs host Toronto for the first time was simple: see the 19-year-old French phenom do some amazing things, and the Raptors get out of San Antonio with a much-needed win.
Well, Wembanyama delivered. He had expanded his ever-growing highlight reel by the time the game was 10 minutes old. The Raptors? They shone as well, shaking off a shaky first half to overcome a 22-point deficit and upend the Spurs 123-116 in overtime.
The win improved Toronto to 3-4 on the season and 1-1 on their four-game road trip with their next date in Dallas on Wednesday. The Spurs fell to 3-3.
Everyone got what they were looking for. A three by Wembanyama that rimmed in and out late in the overtime period might have extended matters, but by then the point was made: the Spurs rookie is a bonafide star in the making, able to conjure up jaw-dropping plays on both ends of the floor.
“Just super unique,” said Raptors forward O.G. Anunoby who typically guards the NBA’s best players, an elite group of athletes by any standard. The all-NBA defender covered Wembanyama most of the game and came away as amazed as everyone else. “Never seen anyone that tall in life. So yeah: He’s just really tall. Covers a lot of ground. Yeah, he changes the game.”
But the Raptors have some rapidly developing star power too as Scottie Barnes put the Raptors on his broad shoulders in the fourth quarter to wrap up perhaps his most impressive game of what has been an outstanding start to the season. Barnes took over down the stretch and finished with 30 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, three assists and three steals in 42 minutes, including 17 points in the fourth quarter as the Raptors pulled back from down 17 with 11 minutes to play, tying the mark for the largest fourth-quarter comeback in team history. He’s averaging 22 points, 10 rebounds and six assists while shooting 42.7 per cent from three in what is shaping up as a breakout season.
With apologies to Wembanyama, Barnes was the best player on the floor for either team.
“He is not shying away from those moments,” Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic said. “He’s craving those moments and I’m blessed to have a player like Scottie to put him in those situations. He did it all in the second half, he rebounded the ball, he was pushing the ball in transition … he’s a gamer and he loves those moments.”
Barnes’ explanation:
“We needed a spark … It was instinct, you know. The game hadn’t been going. We needed something to go and I knew I needed to start doing something.”
He did acknowledge that his biggest plays in an afternoon full of them were a surprise even to him. He thought Toronto was down four when he tied the game with a three with 38 seconds to play. “I was just trying to make something happen, so I shot it. I looked up and saw were tied and said, ‘Okay, let’s go!’”
That said, Wembanyama was as advertised, which is to say, spectacular. He finished with 20 points, nine rebounds, four assists and five blocks in 38 minutes. He was 7-of-16 from the floor and 2-of-7 from three. He gives every impression that he’s just scratching the surface six games into what promises to be a historical career.
“He’s going to be one of the greats,” was Raptors guard Dennis Schroder’s assessment.
The No. 1 overall pick in the draft this past summer and a prospect many seasoned NBA observers believe is the best basketball prospect to join the NBA since LeBron James arrived in 2003 provided multiple plays that you could only giggle at by the end of the first quarter alone.
He got things rolling early when he sprinted along the three-point line off a screen, caught the ball cleanly, gathered all of 7-foot-4 of him into a controlled stop as he simultaneously squared to the basket and made a three-pointer that Golden State Warriors all-time sharpshooter Klay Thompson would nod at approvingly. As a bonus, he made the free throw after OG Anunoby fouled him on his follow-through for a tidy four-point play.
Then he caught the ball going left at the top of the three-point line, slammed on the brakes, got low and reversed direction, using a tight, crisp dribble to split Gary Trent Jr. and Barnes before taking one more dribble to get all the way through the lane for a dunk. If there is another player in the NBA who could put that sequence together it might be Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, but not necessarily.
And about that defence. At 6-foot-7 Anunoby might be giving up nine inches or so to Wembanyama, but the burly Raptors forward is probably 40 pounds heavier and orders of magnitude stronger than the slender Spurs rookie. Anunoby tried to use his strength to move Wembanyama as he attacked him one-on-one, and it worked: his shoulder moved the Spurs forward a couple of feet off his line. But it didn’t matter. When Anunoby tried to put the ball on the backboard at point-blank range, Wembanyama simply reached over and pinned it on the backboard. It seems too easy for him.
“He’s too tall. He’s way too tall. I don’t know,” said Anunoby, who was otherwise exceptional, as he hit a career-best seven threes, finished with 24 points and tied the game with 1.2 seconds left with a putback that forced overtime after the Spurs had done up two with a pair of free throws. “I thought — I don’t know. I thought … Too tall.”
Not perfect, mind you. There was some questionable shot selection and some wild ball-handling misadventures, but nothing that can’t be forgiven for any young player trying to find his feet in the world’s best basketball league.
The Spurs – and in particular head coach Gregg Popovich, who is starting his 28th season – have seen this before. As great a season as Wembanyama is likely to have, it’s unlikely to be the best rookie year a Spur has ever had under Popovich, who had Hall-of-Famers David Robinson and Tim Duncan as rookies. They were each significantly older than Wembanyama and authored among the best rookie seasons ever.
As he approaches his 75th birthday, the NBA’s all-time winningest coach doesn’t feel the need to rush anything.
“You have a system. Some things are non-negotiable,” said Popovich when asked if Wembanyama was being handled any differently than some of the Spurs greats of their championship past. “Those things that the basketball gods want you to do, like run back on defence and block out, shoot good shots, all that sort of stuff.
“But as far as how to use him, it takes some time just to see where he’s most comfortable on the court and where advantages are for him based on what his abilities are.
“For most of us, all we saw were highlight films, I wasn’t paying attention to him. And then since he’s here, we’re taking time to just let him play, That will lead us in the direction of how we can help him grow. We don’t assume we know how to grow him without knowing.”
The skill that was perhaps most surprising? He’s already a willing and skilled passer. He should have had more than the four assists he was credited for had his teammates finished off the open looks he found them for. He makes the right play, such as when he recovered a loose ball and rocketed a one-hand pass to the corner where Keldon Johnson buried a three as the shot clock sounded that gave the Spurs a five-point lead with 1:20 to play.
The Raptors’ side of the equation? For most of three quarters, not so good.
“We started sluggish with 12 turnovers in the first half, we were just not present,” said Rajakovic. “They did not feel us, offensively and defensively we were one step late. Second half, everything was about winning. Everything we did in the second half … had nothing to do with side stuff, it was all about winning.”
But things ground to a halt shortly after. Pascal Siakam made two ugly turnovers in transition as part of a poor outing overall as he shot 2-of-12 from the floor and was a non-factor for long stretches. Toronto finished with five turnovers in the first quarter and trailed 26-22.
Then the Raptors almost lost the game in the second quarter as they were out-scored 28-13 and gave up 13 points off turnovers. A Wembanyama corner three and another triple from Zach Collins, the seven-footer the Spurs play at centre, gave the Spurs a 22-point lead, their largest before taking a 54-35 advantage into the third quarter.
The third quarter was more promising for Toronto as they cut the Spurs lead to a more manageable 15-point margin, setting the stage for fourth-quarter fireworks.
That’s when Barnes made it known that Wembanyama wasn’t the only player on the floor with big expectations and the determination to meet them. He showed he meant business when he sparked the Raptors’ comeback with a pair of threes and a spectacular post move he finished with a dunk on a personal 8-2 run.
He had another big moment in a quarter full of them when he pump-faked Wembanyama, got his feet crossed and drove the rim for the finish that got the Raptors within three with a minute to play. In addition to his game-tying three, Barnes nearly won it when his one-handed turnaround off an inbounds play with 0.9 seconds left on the clock bounced on the rim and nearly fell in before rolling off. On the prior defensive possession, he stole Spurs’ inbounds and called a timeout to give the Raptors the chance to win it at the buzzer.
The Raptors got off to a quick start in the overtime period as threes from Siakam and Anunoby were all the spark Toronto needed.
The Raptors were able to hang on for the feel-good win which – combined with Wembanyama’s brilliance, made for a near-perfect afternoon.
