As the NBA Cup final approaches in Las Vegas against the New York Knicks (2:30 a.m. from Tuesday to Wednesday in France), one question dominates Spurs news: will Victor Wembanyama be the starter? Returning from injury, he played around twenty minutes in the last three quarters during the semi-final against Oklahoma City on Saturday. And everything suggests that the same pattern could be reproduced in the final. The Spurs do not want to take any risks with their nugget, who suffered from a calf strain which required a month of downtime.
The question was asked of San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson, and he did not know, or want to, answer it. “That’s a good question,” he said. This is something we will continue to talk about with Victor. It’s difficult, because he wants to play everything, he wants to start, he wants to finish the game. (…) But we are not at the point of not paying attention to the minutes he spends on the floor. We want to be careful. »
The Spurs star should not play more than 25 or 30 minutes this Tuesday evening, possible overtime included. The entire job of the Texan staff will be to manage their minutes as best as possible. “If you play him certain minutes in one place, you can’t play him other times,” Johnson said. We have to continue to think about what is best for the team, unfortunately. We do not make this decision outside of all other considerations. We have to be sure that this decision fits with everything else, and how it affects other players. »
Wembanyama: “I’m ready”
The player didn’t say anything else: “it’s going to be a mix of several opinions, the medical staff, the performance team, but I’m ready. If I had to choose for myself, I would also base it on my feelings and those of the staff. I realize I didn’t say much (he starts laughing). To summarize, we’re going to talk about it. »
In the semi-finals, on the bench at the start of the match, he did not play a minute of the first quarter but gradually gained strength. He then flew through the final quarter of his class. “Of course, it wasn’t the ideal physical condition, but I couldn’t stop moving, moving around,” he said on NBA TV. I was too excited, I had too much energy. »
The profile of the match against New York encourages the Spurs staff to manage their Frenchman’s minutes carefully. “It’s going to come down to physicality, speed and rebound,” predicts Wemby. In New York, they don’t play basketball as sophisticated as the Miami Heat or the Thunder but they are one of the most physical teams in the League. »
We understand that Victor Wembanyama defends another vision of basketball. He has talked a lot about “ethical” basketball in recent days. “It’s a basketball that can be described as old school, or Spurs way (Editor’s note: Spurs style)because danger can come from anywhere. We don’t do a lot of insulation (Editor’s note: one-on-one) like we see in modern basketball. It’s tactically more correct, I think. » San Antonio’s style of play is starting to become known. The only unknown lies in the starting five. The five that will end the match, on the other hand, is well known, and there will be Wembanyama in it.
