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 brazenly acknowledging the challenges of containing the San Antonio Spurs celebrity.
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 recreation plan merely fell aside this time.
“Yeah, I imply we’ve executed a great 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 stated after the sport. “And he was very aggressive, as aggressive to begin a recreation as I’ve seen him each in attacking the basket and in capturing 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 onerous to create pictures on the rim. I feel we took 5; we have been 2-for-5 on the rim within the first half. Simply not a whole lot of rim makes an attempt for us. They’re among the finest, if not one of the best, at defending the rim. However [we] simply weren’t in a position to generate that. We scored no matter it was, 55, however had 14 non-paint twos. I type 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 influence 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 the 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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