LOS ANGELES — Spurs center Victor Wembanyama expressed confidence in slowing down a game that “feels fast right now” after the Lakers became the second straight opponent to hold him in check during a 118-116 San Antonio loss Wednesday at Crypto.com Arena.
“Personally, I haven’t seen this kind of defense from teams,” Wembanyama said. “So we need to adapt as a collective. In the Phoenix game, it was the case as well. We got stalled out sometimes. We’re learning.”
Three days after the Suns handed the Spurs their first loss of the season, holding Wembanyama to his second career outing with fewer than 10 points (9) and at least 5 turnovers (6), the Lakers limited the Frenchman to 19 points on 5-of-14 shooting with 5 turnovers. Wembanyama fouled out with 1:40 to play in a game that two other Spurs, Harrison Barnes and Jeremy Sochan, left after accruing six fouls in the final 90 seconds.
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With 0.2 seconds left to play, Julian Champagnie (14 points) missed the first of two potential game-tying free throws and purposely misfired on the second to give San Antonio one last opportunity to deadlock the contest, but Keldon Johnson’s tip-in attempt didn’t fall.
The Suns smothered Wembanyama with double-teams Sunday and pushed him off his spots on the floor while preventing touches deep in the paint. The Lakers employed a similar strategy Wednesday with the same result.
“Mostly, it was the doubling,” he said. “They were ready. They probably walked in shootaround through all our situations because it seemed like they were very ready. It felt like they let me catch the ball, but they were ready to double to rotate after that.”
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said Wembanyama would be “fine” as they look to get him back on track offensively.
“We need to get him the ball in better spots. We need to get to our starting spots earlier,” Johnson said. “He needs to be more demonstrative and demand the ball. When he doesn’t, he should yell at everybody in the gym, including his teammates and myself, and he’ll be fine.”
Despite the struggles, Wembanyama led San Antonio in scoring as every Spurs starter contributed at least 14 points while the reserves went 14-for-15 in outscoring the Lakers’ bench 38-21. The Spurs led by as many as 12 points with 1:26 left to play in the third quarter.
Plagued by foul trouble, Wembanyama racked up 12 of his 19 points in the second half, with eight coming from the free-throw line. The 21-year-old committed three turnovers in the fourth quarter as the Lakers bested the Spurs 30-20 in the final frame. The Spurs starting five were 1-for-12 shooting in the fourth quarter.
“We had a rough second half,” guard Stephon Castle said. “We had a lead. We slipped up and let them get back in the game with some free throws. Vic can get right back on track. He works hard. He has the right mindset. He gets it, and he’ll figure it out.”
Wembanyama agreed, saying one of his first thoughts after losses is to bury himself in film study in preparation for the next opponent.
“There’s no worry, really,” Wembanyama said. “As we’ve gotten better as a team and got better individually as well, it’s like the opponents have stepped up in some ways defensively. I feel in a way that the game feels fast right now. We’re going to catch up on it, of course.
“… It feels like teams are very prepared from previous schemes defensively coming into games against us. When we’re on the court, we need to face these kinds of defenses. It’s going to make us much better really quick.”
