Victor Wembanyama’s stunning admission after defeat to Warriors

As spectacular as he often was on the field, San Antonio Spurs superstar Victor Vembanyama showed introspection and understanding beyond his years. We saw another example after the Spurs 125-120 loss to Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors.

“It’s a very special team to play against.”

That was just his starting point. Wemby went into much more detail.

“I guess communication goes into that, for sure. But also trust in each other, trust in the game plan. I can remember moments, whether it’s me or my teammates, doing things on the field out of fear, out of lack of trust. Maybe my teammate won’t be there or a person I can’t see, in the back of my head, should be doing his job or should be working at home.

One of the best teams in the league during the first three weeks of the season, Wembey’s Spurs went down against a franchise three years removed from its fourth NBA championship and sixth Finals appearance since 2015. It’s a notion not lost on San Antonio’s generational talent.

“I mean, even before I got to the league I knew from watching the Warriors for years and years, when they get their momentum going, they’re really good,” Wembanyama said. “So it’s hard to stop them. You have to keep them in first gear.”

Victor Vembanyama describes Spurs’ problems in defeat to Warriors

After that The Spurs held the Warriors to 14 points in the first quarterGolden State ran off with 35, 43 and 33 points in the remaining periods, outscoring the Silver and Black by 15 in the critical third quarter. When told that star teammate De’Aaron Fox said communication breakdowns on defense led to their woes, Wemby didn’t argue.

“Part of it, for sure. For sure, more discipline. The frustrating part, because sometimes it seems like there are things you can’t control, but we have to be more disciplined.”

Spurs’ generational talent, who together with Stephon Castle became the first teammates of the Spurs to record a triple-double in the same game, he also noticed offensive mistakes. Although he admitted that on the night they scored 120, that wasn’t their biggest problem.

“I think we’re going back to what we’ve done well, what we know best. “With our current lineups, it’s not too hard to find favorable matchups for us. So this is what we need to get back to. I don’t think we necessarily did it badly offensively,” Wemby said before heading off. “But defensively, playing against this team is different than playing against any other team.”

“Curry had 46,” the Spurs’ top scorer continued. “The game was played for 48 minutes and we didn’t do our job. We did a good job at times, but not for 48, and when it comes to finishing games and playing the full 48, this is the type of game where they can really make you pay for mistakes.”

The Spurs get another shot at Curry and the Warriors right away when they meet for the second time in three days in the NBA Cup on Friday.

“I guess it also comes back to maturity and trusting the process, but it’s a good test to play against this team. We need that,” revealed the first pick in the 2023 draft.

“We will learn from it.”

The rest of us will soon find out.