5 Victor Wembanyama-sized observations from Celtics-Spurs
The 7-foot-5 superstar did not have his best game against the Celtics. Here are a few observations.
Since Victor Wembanyama was in town, this post is all about the bigs. Well, make it the bigs plus Jayson Tatum because a 32-point, 14-rebound performance is too big to be ignored.
All eyes were on the 7-foot-5 French superstar amid a stellar sophomore season during which he was finally paired with a star running mate in De’Aaron Fox.
This was the first trip to TD Garden for the newly formed duo. So, how did Wembanyama, Kristaps Porzingis, Tatum, and Luke Kornet fare during the Celtics’ 116-103 victory?
Here are a few observations.
Celtics kept Wembanayama out of the paint
Few players are more efficient inside the paint than Wembanyama, who entered the game shooting 68.9 percent from eight feet and in. Take it out to the 8 to 16-foot range, and the field-goal percentage drops to 44.1 percent.
However, Boston’s physicality allowed them to keep Wembanyama from getting too many of those looks. He went 2-for-4 on layup attempts.
While he wasn’t often directly guarding Wembanyama, Kristaps Porzingis was ready to slide over and use his length to help on defense. The Celtics stayed physical on switches, unafraid to give the lanky star a bump here and there. Coach Joe Mazzulla praised Al Horford for the way he battled with Wembanyama.
“I thought Al did a great job on Wembanyama taking away tendencies and being physical with him,” Mazzulla said. “He really set the tone for us tonight. I thought in the first half and the fourth quarter we did a great job taking away of the points that they get, so just good physicality good attention to detail.”
Wembanyama’s midrange game was fairly effective, but he looked uncomfortable from beyond the 3-point arc, missing six of his seven 3-point attempts. Overall, he scored 17 points on 7-for-16 shooting to go with 13 rebounds.
Porzingis had a good shooting night, but he had to work for it
Two things really stood out about Porzingis’s game tonight. First, there were a pair of possessions where Wembanyama was guarding him inside and he decided to go with a pair of up-under-moves. Both involved multiple pump fakes.
When’s the last time Porzingis has had to fake the ball that many times to get a shot off?
On a similar note, the Celtics have allowed Porzingis to roam around the perimeter in their five-out offense and take 3-pointers from way beyond the arc.
Porzingis did end up going 3-for-4 from 3-point range, but those dramatic shots where he pulls up from a super deep spot on the floor and shoots over a smaller player just because he can were pretty much absent tonight. At 7-foot-5, Wembanyama is one of the few players taller than Porzingis.
Overall, Porzingis scored 29 points on 10-16 shooting. He finished with five turnovers, including one frustrating sequence where he had his dribble stripped by Chris Paul and made a bad pass out of bounds.
Luke Kornet’s only basket of the night was a loud one
Reserve center Luke Kornet scored just two points in 16 minutes, making his only field-goal attempt of the night.
Kornet rebounded a Tatum 3-point miss and went right back up for a two-handed dunk over a pair of Spurs defenders. The loud dunk brought the Celtics bench to its feet and fired up the crowd.
Then, on Boston’s very next possession, Tatum hit Porzingis with a lob pass into the lane. The Celtic big man caught the ball, spun, and threw down another ferocious dunk on San Antonio.
Both these dunks came while Wembanyama was on the bench. That doesn’t make them any less forceful.
Tatum came up big on the boards again
Another night where Tatum’s impact on the boards shouldn’t go unnoticed.
Despite being nine inches shorter than Wembanyama, Tatum won the rebounding battle between the stars 14-13. It’s Tatum’s first double-digit rebound performance since January 15th.
He set the tone for the rest of the team to handle its business on the glass. Boston outrebounded the Spurs 56-38.
Horford (6 points) was the only Celtics starter who didn’t finish in double-figures, but he chipped in 10 rebounds. Derrick White, Sam Hauser, and Payton Pritchard chipped in seven apiece.
No block party allowed
Wembanyama is averaging almost four blocked shots per game this season. He had two blocks Wednesday night. None of his teammates recorded one.
The Celtics found ways to space the floor effectively throughout the game, and as usual, most of the shots they took were 3-pointers which are generally harder to block than drives to the basket.
While Wembanyama is gifted in multiple facets of the game, the Celtics were able to take away the two that set him apart the most, inside scoring and shotblocking.
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