rewrite this title NBA: Wembanyama & Spurs remaining confident despite Lakers setback

Victor Wembanyama is remaining optimistic about his development despite another challenging outing in the new NBA season, after the San Antonio Spurs fell 118-116 to the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night.

“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.”

Just three days after the Phoenix Suns handed the Spurs their first loss of the season, the Lakers followed a similar defensive plan.

Against Phoenix, Wembanyama managed just nine points with six turnovers. On Wednesday, Los Angeles again contained him, holding the 21-year-old to 19 points on 5-of-14 shooting, while forcing five turnovers before he fouled out with 1:40 remaining.

Harrison Barnes and Jeremy Sochan also fouled out in the final minutes as San Antonio struggled to maintain its late lead.

The Spurs were up by 12 with 1:26 left in the third quarter but faltered down the stretch, shooting just 1-for-12 in the fourth.

With 0.2 seconds left, Julian Champagnie missed the first of two free throws that could have tied the game, then intentionally missed the second. Keldon Johnson’s tip-in attempt came up short, sealing the Spurs’ second consecutive defeat.

Phoenix and Los Angeles both crowded Wembanyama with early double-teams, denying him clean touches near the rim.

“Mostly, it was the doubling,” Wembanyama 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 head coach Mitch Johnson backed his young star, saying the team needs to adjust its approach to help him find better scoring positions.

“We need to get him the ball in better spots. We need to get to our starting spots earlier.

“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 foul trouble, Wembanyama led the team in scoring, with 12 of his 19 points coming in the second half, eight from the free-throw line. Every Spurs starter scored at least 14 points, and the bench outscored the Lakers’ reserves 38-21.

Confidence in the Process

Guard Stephon Castle said the team simply lost focus in the second half but remains confident in Wembanyama’s ability to respond.

“We had a rough second half,” 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 echoed that sentiment, saying that studying film and learning from these challenges are part of his growth.

“There’s no worry, really,” he 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.”