The Houston Rockets bothered Victor Wembanyama into his worst offensive performance since… the last time the Spurs faced the Rockets. Exactly a week after losing to Houston in a game Wemby scored 10 while tweaking his right ankle, the generational prospect scored 13 points on Tuesday in a 103-101 loss. When the two met in December, Wembanyama managed just 15 points.
ClutchPoints asked this past summer’s top overall draft pick if he thinks the Rockets guard him more aggressively than any opponent in the NBA.
“I can’t really tell because this is a long season, and teams change strategies mid-season. Some teams have played me several different ways throughout the year, so it really just depends,” Wembanyama answered following the San Antonio Spurs 113-101 loss.
The Rockets used tenacious, pesky, but 6-foot-6 Dillon Brooks as the primary defender on Wembanyama for a good part of the game.
“Just see that I’m doing something right. There are no different scouts. Bring different things to different players. Glad I can be a versatile defender, guarding [Victor Wembanyama] or guarding Paul George,” the veteran out of Oregon said. “So tomorrow, or the next day. Who do we play? Washington? So, I’ll probably be guarding [Kyle Kuzma] or Jordan Poole. Just being a versatile defender and being able to showcase that.”
“A lot of little guys can get into a big guy like that and make it tough. They double-teamed him every time. So, if somebody is going to be guarded that way, everybody else has to participate and you have to do it a different way,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of Brooks’ defense.
“As usual in the NBA down the stretch, you got to make shots and Brooks made two threes in a row down there, which gave them a little bit of a separation. That’s what it’s all about at the end of games,” the Hall of Fame coach continued as he alluded to the forward’s offense. Brooks added 13 on that side of the ball.
A team approach to guarding Wemby
While Houston started multiple defensive possessions with Brooks on Wembanyama, they’d rotate different defenders toward the 20-year-old phenom as well as the Spurs’ second-leading scorer.
“Whoever we’re playing, if that’s how they play us, other guys are going to have to step up and hit shots. Obviously, Victor is going to get that type of attention a lot throughout his entire career, same with Devin [Vassell],” Spurs point guard Tre Jones said. “There were points tonight where Devin couldn’t even get open. They’re hanging all over him, denying him the ball whenever they could, just trying not to let him get going. We know that they’re going to try to take both of them away a lot, and it’ll be on the rest of us to hit those open shots when they’re there.”
Wembanayama not only knows about Houston’s tough approach defensively. He continues to feel it.
“The physicality, the energy, just every night is a challenge. This is a very aggressive team, defensively. So, this is what’s hard.”
About the Author
Hector Ledesma has been covering the Spurs in San Antonio since 2005, but he has been following them for even longer than that. An award-winning journalist born and raised in San Antonio, Hector has worked across all types of television and radio platforms. His work extends online and through social media (@HectorLedesmaTV) where he continues that work with ClutchPoints.
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