Photo by Logan Riely/NBAE via Getty Images Rockets bring the Spurs back down to Earth To be honest, I expected to wake up this morning to distressing headlines: “WEMBANYAMA FED UP.” “SITUATION UNSUSTAINABLE: VICTOR WANTS TO WIN NOW” “HOW MUCH LONGER CAN THE SPURS SUBJECT THIS GREAT NATION TO SEEING VICTOR WEMBANYAMA ON A LOTTERY TEAM” “IT’S TIME: SPURS MUST DO RIGHT BY GENERATIONAL TALENT AND RELEASE HIM BEFORE THE PLAYOFFS START” “WHEN VICTOR WAS IN EGYPT’S LAND: LET MY VICTOR GO!” Things of that nature. You see, the Spurs had lost a game and they had lost it badly. Our generational talent only managed to eke out 10 points and spent most of the game in foul trouble. No one else seemed willing or able to pick up the slack. Alperen Sengun played Godzilla to the Spurs’ helpless Tokyo. Gregg Popovich, after the game, colorfully reflected on this game as “a royal butt-whooping.” Except he didn’t say butt. It was a bad game and a bad loss, which was concerning because the Spurs were coming off arguably their best stretch of the season. Two monster wins over the Thunder and Pacers had the team (and fanbase) riding high. They had played great basketball, and Wembanyama had all but secured the Rookie of the Year award. After a truly trying season, it seemed like the boys had maybe locked into something and were gearing up to finish the season strong. Even after all those warm and fuzzies, though, the national conversation did not evolve into the “Spurs playing better!” fiesta we all hoped for. No, instead, it seemed as though everyone was finally awake to the fact that a talent like Wembanyama doesn’t belong in San Antonio anymore. If they were saying all that after two greats wins, gosh, what would they say after that exercise in stepping on rakes in Houston last night? The truth is that they’ve all moved on. Shrug. On to the next. Boston was the best team in the league on Tuesday, but then they lost to the Cavs: Are they in trouble? The Suns beat the Nuggets: Have they solved Jokic? The Lakers have an extra second-round draft pick: Could Bronny James be the answer? The public discourse had bigger fish to fry. We’re out of practice with being involved in the dialogue here in Spursland, and, look, I’ll be the first to admit that the speed and veracity with which it moves caught me off guard. I was mad yesterday. I was “triggered” watching Ramona Shelburne sit there on TV and wonder aloud about how much patience Victor Wembanyama might or might not have. I like Ramona Shelburne! I eagerly devour every single one of her published pieces full of gossipy little details like “James Harden felt disrespected by the snack spread in Philadelphia” and “Lakers felt blindsided by Anthony Davis’s requests for TWO chairs in the locker room.” Those things are the spice of life. They keep me locked into the league. I need her out on the front lines bringing me all the silly scuttlebutt to enjoy during my work commute. But it turns out I did not like when it was turned back on me. The Spurs? My little ol’ Spurs? Subject to this kind of rampant and hurtful speculation? No, thank you. That’s a problem, though, because one of the only downsides of having someone like Victor Wembanyama on our favorite team is that he is the kind of guy who gets the Ramona Shelburnes of the world checking in behind the scenes. He has the Stephen A. Smiths coming on during halftime and saying stuff like, “Unacceptable! Preposterous! This cannot continue!” He has the Bill Simmons of the world getting on the Trade Machine and concocting ludicrous three-team deals that end with Victor in New York, Josh Hart and Julius Randle in Miami, and three meaningless draft picks in San Antonio and asking, “Who says no?” Victor is going to be the face of the league sooner or later. That much seems certain at this point. That’s an incredible boon for the San Antonio Spurs and it’s a miraculous development for its fanbase. We are going to be a party to some amazing basketball, and we are going to win a lot of basketball games, and, who knows, maybe snag a ring or two in the process. We are lucky. Period. But we are also going to have to develop some thick skin. We’re going to have to not freak out every time ESPN does a segment about the team. We can’t assume that a media apparatus designed to stir the pot is some devious plot from on high put in motion to hurt us personally, instead of what it actually is, which is a TV show. From where we’re standing today, if you peer down the road, you can see just enough of the future to know that there are some great things in store for us out there, and that should be enough. There’s probably a little pain and heartbreak mixed in too, and that’s okay. We don’t need to lose our cool. It’s going to be beautiful and annoying and lovely and frustrating, and we’re just going to have to go along for the ride. That’s the deal. Victor had a bad game. The Spurs lost. They play again tomorrow. Takeaways: - Mike Finger at the Express News has a column out addressing the concept of the Spurs, their players, and their fans needing to be patient right now. It touches on a lot similar things to what I just word vomited about up there. You should read it! He actually like, talks to people in the organization and know how the media works and stuff as opposed to me who just sits on the couch and tries to do breathing exercises while watching First Take.
- You’ll notice I largely avoided talking about the game against the Rockets in this space and, well, good eye! I don’t really want to talk about it! It was not a good time! Thanks but no thanks!
- A big thing that everyone seems to be worried about with Wembanyama is how injury prone he may or may not be and, I have to say, on that front I’ve been very impressed by him this year. He doesn’t seem to be frail in the way a lot of too tall and too skinny guys can be in this league. He plays tough and he doesn’t shy away from physicality. When I saw him on the injury report for this game I thought, sure, that’s probably a good thing. Then he went out and played! Not very well, mind you, but he wanted to be out there and that seems important. I think Victor is a guy who is of the mind that he doesn’t really have time to be injured and will be taking care of his body accordingly.
- Let’s watch Victor do something cool so we all feel better, how bout that?
Source: https://www.poundingtherock.com/2024/3/ ... he-rockets