Victor Wembanyama delivered a daunting reminder of his dominance on Tuesday night time, dismantling the Los Angeles Lakers in a efficiency that left head coach JJ Redick overtly acknowledging the challenges of containing the San Antonio Spurs famous person.
Wembanyama exploded for 40 factors, together with 37 within the first half earlier than he was despatched to the bench.
Whereas the Lakers had managed to restrict Wembanyama in earlier conferences this season, Redick admitted their defensive sport plan merely fell aside this time.
“Yeah, I imply we’ve completed job traditionally. He’s had good video games. Once more, I’m not saying like we’ve shut him down, however we’ve restricted him with our coverages towards him. We simply didn’t execute these,” Redick mentioned after the sport. “And he was very aggressive, as aggressive to start out a sport as I’ve seen him each in attacking the basket and in taking pictures with out hesitation from three.
“[He] simply actually put his imprint on the sport in that first half. And with the fellows we had on the market, it was laborious to create pictures on the rim. I believe we took 5; we have been 2-for-5 on the rim within the first half. Simply not plenty of rim makes an attempt for us. They’re top-of-the-line, if not the perfect, at defending the rim. However [we] simply weren’t capable of generate that. We scored no matter it was, 55, however had 14 non-paint twos. I form of figured that there’s gonna be a few of that tonight. However to me, it was the protection.”
Past the stat line, Redick made it clear Wembanyama’s affect stretches far deeper than numbers alone, highlighting the defensive concern issue the younger star already instructions throughout the league.
“Yeah, I don’t actually take into consideration that,” Redick added. “However yeah, I do know proper now, we’ve gotta cope with him. He’s one of many 5 finest gamers on this planet. He’s put that stamp on himself, and it’s greater than, to me, it’s greater than counting stats with him as a result of there’s such an avoidance of him defensively. And there’s an consciousness you must have from him defensively.
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