SAN ANTONIO — The crazy part is they’re only going to get better.
It’s a sobering thought for the rest of the NBA, and in this case for the Toronto Raptors, who became the fourth team to get ‘Wembied’ — my adjective for when a team gets completely discombobulated by the San Antonio Spurs‘ Victor Wembanyama, the third-year sensation who has played his way into the conversation for league MVP in the space of a week.
Well, they did in the first half, anyway.
But that was more than enough as Toronto lost its third straight and for the second straight night in Texas as it fell to the Spurs 121-103 on Monday after getting man-handled by Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday night.
They at least get to be at home on Wednesday night, when they deal with the NBA’s rising Texas tide again as they host Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets on Wednesday.
All of these Texas teams promise to be a problem with the young talent they have coursing through their rosters, but the Spurs and Wembanyama project to be a nightmare.
Not only is there the French star’s limitless bucket of talent and determination to milk every last ounce out of it — “Like, he really does go to be bed at eight or nine at night, so he gets his rest,” said his friend and former teammate, Raptors centre Sandro Mamukelashvili — but the organization has all kinds of potential too.
From reigning NBA rookie of the year Stephon Castle (22 points against the Raptors) to No. 2 overall pick Dylan Harper, who is looking more impressive with every outing (11 points and six assists in 27 minutes of the bench), to a grab bag of tradeable contracts and promising future draft assets, the Spurs seem poised to transition to contender status sooner than later.
But it starts and ends with Wembanyama, the 22-year-old who is developing into a hybrid of Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Rudy Gobert.
Consider that the NBA’s Western Conference Player of the Week (Wembanyama) had his least dominant game — at least according to the box score — of the four straight the Spurs have won to start the season, and he still finished with 24 points, 14 rebounds and four assists in his 31 minutes. The Spurs won his minutes by 35 points. He was 7-of-8 from the floor, 10-of-10 from the free-throw line and unmatched in the amount of real estate he was occupying in the Raptors’ heads.
He blocked only one shot, which brought his four-game average all the way down to 4.8 per game, but the Raptors shot 6-of-16 on non-rim two-point attempts, about 20 per cent below league average, and that’s not even accounting for the interior shots they never bothered to attempt with Wembanyama lurking.
“He’s huge, like, he definitely discourages you from trying to go to the rim, and his teammates definitely play off of that,” said RJ Barrett, who led the Raptors in scoring with 25 points, continuing a strong run of play through the first four games of the season by the Canadian national team star. “They’re more out on the perimeter, getting in passing lanes, and they kind of leave the rim up to him.”
The game was almost decided in the first seven minutes of the first quarter, when Wembanyama and the Spurs sprinted out to a 27-10 lead
Raptors centre Jakob Poeltl, in general a reliable paint protector and savvy help defender, found himself matching up with Wembanyama on the perimeter, trying to figure out how to cover a seven-foot-five, long-armed, nimble-footed, face-up wing, determined to drive into the paint.
Wembanyama got to the free-throw line four times, scored eight points and very much set the tone. The Raptors reeled the Spurs in a little bit when Wembanyama sat — even though they were trailing 41-29 at the end of the first quarter, the lead had shrunk.
But then Wembanyama checked back in and all of a sudden Poeltl — who was shooting 75 per cent from the floor coming into the game — was rushing push shots and Collin Murray-Boyles and Ja’Kobe Walter would attack the paint, realize there was no daylight and turn the ball over, trying to find their teammates on the perimeter as the Spurs lurked in the passing lanes.
And it’s not like Wembanyama was using his ball-handling skills to experiment. It was all with a purpose. There were no bailout possessions where he dribbled aimlessly before lofting three. That was last season, when the French star was putting up 8.8 triples a game and taking just 4.1 free throws. This year’s model, a little thicker and much more determined to take advantage of his absurd height and length advantage, is getting to the line 10 times a game and taking fewer than four threes.
“It’s just efficiency,” said Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson. “He’s been efficient in terms of taking care of the basketball and making decisions.”
Which isn’t to say the Raptors’ problems weren’t particularly self-inflicted. Their defence, which was supposed to be their calling card this season, seems unglued early on, a carry-over from their showing against Dallas, when they gave up 139 points. At the end of the first half, the Spurs were shooting 66.6 per cent from the floor, 53.3 per cent from three and 17-of-19 from the free-throw line. There was little resistance and a fair amount of confusion. It was remarkable that the Raptors were only trailing by 69-50. But how much of that was because Wembanyama had them running around trying — fruitlessly, it turns out — to account for him, and how much was because of their own seeming lack of discipline?
They gave a good indication in the second half, when the same group of starters who had been run off the floor in the first quarter got down and guarded.
Two quick steals and a missed alley-oop by Wembanyama helped power an early 8-2 run with Barrett scoring all eight for the Raptors. Toronto ended up winning the quarter 28-26, forcing six of the Spurs’ 21 turnovers and holding San Antonio to 43.8 per cent shooting, compared to their 58.2 per cent mark for the game.
“We got tired of being scored on, I guess,” said Barrett. “We’re just really trying to figure it out. Of course, it’s our first couple of games together. Speaking for myself, I feel I can give a little bit more effort to be ready (earlier). … We just need to make sure we have a focus and intensity from the beginning, because outside of that first quarter, it was a pretty even game.”
Wembanyama was the difference-maker in the end, a pattern that will likely be repeated routinely this season for the third-year star who is very much on his way to breaking into the NBA’s upper echelon.
The Raptors pulled within eight points on a couple of instances in the fourth quarter, but Wembanyama snuffed out any hope of a comeback.
His first blocked shot came when he spiked Barrett’s floater. He then used his ball-handling skills to attack the paint, draw the defence and flip a pass to Castle for a three. And then Wembanyama scored twice on plays that are effectively indefensible: a spinning fadeaway from the elbow and a single-dribble drive from the elbow, through heavy traffic.
With that, the Raptors’ night was done, but the dawn of the Wembanyama era is very much here.
Grange for three
1. Bounce-back for Murray-Boyles: Barrett suggested that the Raptors rookie might have been playing “pissed off” after coming off the injured list (forearm) and going scoreless against the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday night. “I wouldn’t say that,” said Murray-Boyles, after being one of the Raptors’ standouts while putting up 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting (2-of-3 from deep) and grabbing three steals in an impressive 24 minutes. The No. 9 overall pick did a credible job on Wembanyama at times, looked comfortable playing small-ball centre, at times, and continues to show a remarkable knack for deflections and steals without gambling or fouling excessively. “Obviously, I didn’t have a good game (Sunday), it was not to my standards, so I was just trying to get back to what I do that I believe can be effective for the team. That was my goal today and I think I did pretty well,” he said.
2. Poeltl concerns: Back problems for a 30-year-old seven-footer are never a good thing, but especially when they seem to keep recurring. The big Austrian left the game in the second half with back tightness — a problem that showed up shortly after training camp and doesn’t seem to be clearing up very well. Poeltl has been trying to push through it, but with limited success: he was 1-of-6 from the floor and grabbed just two rebounds in 24 minutes. When I asked about his back after the game, the best he could offer was, “We’ll see. … I just couldn’t find a rhythm, I didn’t feel good out there and didn’t feel good moving.”
3. Mamu remembered: It’s quite a statement that a storied franchise like the Spurs chose to do a tribute video for Sandro “Mamu” Mamukelashvili. The Raptors’ back-up centre played part of three seasons for San Antonio, starting just 12 games for teams that won 22, 22 and 34 games, but he clearly left an impression.
“Great guy,” said Johnson, the successor of since-retired Spurs legend Gregg Popovich. “He was a big part of what we did, a fan favourite, and all the guys in the locker room loved him.” It was a touching moment for Mamukelashvili, who was warmly greeted at every turn at the Frost Bank Center. “I will probably never forget it,” said Mamukelashvili. “It’s a great family organization. They value their people, they value guys who come in and uphold the values of the organization, and I’m proud to have been part of it.”
