“Wemby is unreal” – ESPN reacts to Wemby scores 38 Pts, 12 Reb, 5 Blk helps Spurs beat Bulls 121-117

“Wemby is unreal” – ESPN reacts to Wemby scores 38 Pts, 12 Reb, 5 Blk helps Spurs beat Bulls 121-117

Best start since the 201516 season. They are 8 and2. How about that, Mr. Sean Elliot? 8-2 through the first 10. Thrilled. Yeah. And that’s the way it should be. And you know, I’m I’m always going back and looking at games that we could have won like the Laker game. Uh you know, that was a winnable game. Uh Phoenix, give them credit. Uh could be uh you know, could be nine and one right now, but I am pleased with 8-2. I’m gonna take that every single time, especially when our guys had to come back in the fashion that they did tonight where they really had to clamp down. Hadn’t played good defense really until maybe the middle of the fourth quarter. They started getting stops, really started communicating, making it hard on the Bulls. That’s how Mitch Johnson wants them to play for 48 minutes. You know, it was funny when Will Purdue joined us, that’s when that’s when uh Luke Cornett started playing really really well. And he was saying he could sort of saw himself in Luke Cornet a little bit. And I know you were so excited to see Luke come back. I I really was. And uh you know, like Will Purdue said, high basketball IQ. Sets screens and rolls to the basket. Always takes the right angle. He’s not going too wide. He’s going right down the middle of the key. Here he sets the screen almost. It’s almost like a little slip. The defenders don’t communicate it very well. You’re outside the play. There’s the pass over the top again. And here he is. Takes the right angle once again. and he keeps that help defender on his back and there’s no way for the help defender to get back into play. I don’t know how many lobs he got tonight, but he uh did a phenomenal job rebounding the ball when he was out there with Victor Winyama. Boy, it’s tough to get a shot in the paint. You’re they’re going to get every single rebound. Uh it’s just fun to welcome him back. And you mentioned it, him and Castle have sort of a special connection on that lob. I mean, Steph Castle finds everybody. He’s finding all the bigs. He’s finding Victor. He’s finding Luke Cornette. But a L Cornet is easy to find because he again he takes the right angles on all his cuts. And he’s not as much a point of emphasis. Like you see anytime Victor setting that high screen and roll, teams have talked about that over and over and over again. And Luke Cornet gets in there and they run the same high screen and roll and the weak side defender. He’s hugging his man. Uh he doesn’t want to get involved and it’s an easy pass again over the top. So we started with Vanilla. Now how about the French? French Vanilla. Victor Womanyama exploding tonight. You like he was born to be in that position. Just took over the game in the fourth. 38125. And Steph Castle, my man. You guys end this game on a 30-13 run. How did you do it? How did you get this thing done? Yeah. Uh I mean, we weren’t too happy with how our defense was playing the first three quarters. And uh I feel like our guys really came I mean, regardless of what the coaches said, I feel like the message is more important from us. So, our guys came together in the fourth quarter and knew we had to clamp down on defense if we wanted to win. What was said to you guys about your defense at halftime and what was the difference in that fourth quarter for you guys to tighten up the ship and make it difficult on the Bulls? Yeah, just knowing what our standard is knowing it wasn’t good enough. Uh, I mean, we’ve seen it multiple times knowing how we can how we how we can defend guys. So, I feel like we were giving them too many open looks, too many easy buckets and once we clamped down on that, didn’t really give up any easy buckets. We made it easy on ourselves. talk about the Bulls movement and why it was so difficult for you guys. Was it just uh focus or was it the Bulls that with their their style of offense that was giving you guys problems on the defensive end? Uh it might have been a little bit of both. Um I mean the way they play, they don’t have specifically a guy that just, you know, has the ball majority of the game. So, uh everybody touches it. Everybody can touch the paint. So, um everybody has to stay focused in in those ways. And I feel like once we once we locked down on that, I mean, we knew that coming into the game and the first three quarters, we didn’t really execute on it, but fourth quarter, I think we did a good job. Yeah, no question. I want you to be a sports cer and break down some of these highlights. What are you seeing when you’re doing this stuff, man? I’m just trying to be patient. Um, I mean, just with with the guys that we have, I know I draw a lot of attention just touching the paint. So just trying to create advantages whatever way I can and especially in the pick and roll with a lot press just being able to to find easy buckets. Yeah. Talk about your connection with Luke Cornet. I don’t know how many lobs he drew to him tonight. Uh looks like you guys are in sync on that high screen and roll. Uh if the weak side defender or the help guy doesn’t step up there, you go all the way to the basket. If the guy steps up, you’re throwing the ball over the top. Yeah. Uh, I mean Luke since day one with us, he’s been a great lobster threat, especially uh having Vic and then switching over to Luke, there’s not much not much drop off with the lob. So, um, teams don’t really don’t really see that uh from from teams with two two big lob threats. So, just being able to touch the paint again and create disadvantages for for the defense and uh Luke’s been great for us. So, um, just trying to get him involved on both sides. What does it do for your team to win these clutch games? We saw it against New Orleans, uh, Brooklyn, Houston. Uh, there may be another one that I’m forgetting now. And then tonight where really when the game’s on the line, you guys are getting stops, you’re stepping up and making free throws, and you’re getting clutch baskets. Yeah. Um, I feel like we always had, you know, supreme confidence in each other, but when we’re down and, you know, things aren’t going our way, when we can come back and and finish games like that, I feel like it boostes that even even a lot more. So, just getting that that much more experience is only going to help us throughout the season. Absolutely. 37 assists, just eight turnovers your last three games. Mitch said you’re hitting singles, used a baseball analogy, and you’re just making it simple out there. Yeah. Uh just trying to make the game more simple. Um I mean, like I said before, I feel like teams kind of see the the read that I’ve been looking at. Um you know, just moving up on the sky report. So just trying just trying to make the game as simple as I can. Why’ you have to do your former teammate like that? You just cross over Trey Jones and come on, man. They got the way he kind of brought that home for you guys. I think his his poise and just he walked that game down possession by possession there at some point where he just was very fundamentally sound, very um focused and he kind of just dominated a lot of possessions and of course the shots and the blocks and stuff, but even the communication connecting the team defensively. Um it was just it was just a really poised fundamentally sound professional way to finish when you’re up three at the end there with maybe about 20 seconds left. What factors go into your decision about whether to play defense straight up intentionally foul and play the foul game? Yeah, we had a foul to give. So, we were we were at one point, you know, just talking about we had an opportunity, especially as the clock started to go down, just to to be physical and and if you had an opportunity, it’s tough sometimes. You you don’t want to put guys in it’s easy to say foul now. But, um, you know, we they were trying to get a quick shot up and so they got one on the on the one play and then later on Steph took one. But it it’s a lot of circumstances goes into it in terms of uh who’s on the court and fouls, timeout situation and whatnot, but they did a good job executing when we did foul and when we didn’t. How do you think Luke looked in his first um game back in quite a while? Thought he was great. I thought obviously um gotten get in the rhythm of the game. I thought we started off okay and then we got um outside of ourselves a little bit and so it was just tough I think probably for a lot of guys to try to get in the rhythm because we got caught chasing our tail a little bit and they did a great job of pushing the pace and getting us on our heels and then we looked a little indecisive on both ends of the floor but he did a great job finishing and being a part of that group that closed it out. Going back to Victor in that those backto-back threes at the end, we saw him do the little wave off before the second one. Was that planned or was that a spur of the moment thing that he just decided to do in that moment? I think wave off in particular with the the isolation. Yeah, I mean we, you know, we were running pick and roll in the middle of the floor quite a bit, keeping it pretty simple. He made the shot and so that’s one where sometimes it’s about players, not plays. and and he obviously liked the match up he had and so we have a few guys that do that at times whether it’s him, Steph, Darren and he liked his matchup and so we just have to space around him and then play after he creates advantage or takes a shot is what which he did. Somebody said Devin had a migraine that’s why he couldn’t play. I think something obviously that I didn’t sit him that whole time so he was out. I think it was something like that. He’s Yeah, he’s fine now. Even I think he tried to come up and say he was feeling better or something, but I I didn’t have enough information and I didn’t get the thumbs up. So, but he seems fine. Fun watching Trey run around out there a little bit now that the game’s over. Yeah, I want to trip him one time. No. No, it’s always good to see him. He’s a heck of a player. He played his butt off. Trey played well. He did. And the Spurs win, so you know, win-win. Well, it’s a win-win. Yeah. I mean, hats off to Trey Jones. You know, he was trying to get a win against his former team and really played an exceptional ball game. I can’t remember what his numbers were. It’s think seven assists, seven rebounds, uh 22 if I’m not mistaken. And so, hats off to Trey Jones. just, you know, bringing the competitiveness, the competitive nature that he possesses to the game. He wanted to beat his former team. Didn’t turn out the way he wanted because our guys clamped down like Steph said in that fourth quarter and Victor Wimyama took this game, took his game to the next level. And Mitch just there was talking about Luke Cornet as well. I’m going to be very interested to see if they use that lineup more to close games. I mean, those two guys out there defensively closing games, that could be pretty scary down the stretch. Yeah, because they both can move their feet and they both can guard multiple positions. They’re not just these uh big guys. They’re out there because they’re big. You know, they uh block shots. We saw Luke Cornet a few times out in the perimeter against smaller players running them off the three-point line, not giving up anything easy. And so if you can get away with having those two big guys and and then you have Steph Castle who’s all world defender, uh it’s going to be uh really tough for teams if our guys are locked in and focused coming down the stretch to score on those types of lineups. So momentum now for the Spurs. They’ve won a couple in a row. You got to welcome in Steph Curry and the Warriors for two coming up. And then it’s the start of a fivegame home stand. The Kings, the Grizzlies, and the Hawks. And the Spurs have yet to lose at home this year. Oh, I hope you didn’t jinx him. Uh, you know, don’t blame me. Blame the graphic. Yeah, this it’s going to be uh it’s going to be a a big test for our guys. You know, you always want to test yourself against a guy like Steph Curry, uh Jimmy Butler, uh you know, Draymond Green. Those guys have been there, done that. They’re they’re terrific ball players. Obviously, they’re extremely well coached. My my guy Steve Kerr uh does a phenomenal job with them. So, uh, it’s good. You know, the thing I like is that you’re going to see them back to back. And so, whatever happens in game one, let’s see if our guys or they make an adjustment to however whatever happens in that first game. And it’s kind of a little bit like a little mini playoff. And so, uh, that’s how you get better by playing the best. Yeah. That second game against the Warriors and NBA Emirates Cup game. I’ll take the blame. I if I jinx them, it’s my fault. Not Lamar’s fault. Not the graphics in the truck. The truck’s all mad at me right now. So, you’re going to take the blame? Yeah, I’ll I’ll take the blame. Okay, just got to put it out there.

“Wemby is unreal” – ESPN reacts to Wemby scores 38 Pts, 12 Reb, 5 Blk helps Spurs beat Bulls 121-117