Even if Wembanyama plays, Grizzlies must corral Spurs' supporting cast

Many observers saw a leap coming for the San Antonio Spurs this year, but few, if any, expected them to emerge as one of the NBA’s powerhouses this early. They have plenty of youth and offensive options aside from Victor Wembanyama, who has been upgraded to questionable for the game after missing two starts due to a knee injury. Slowing the supporting cast down will be no small task for the Memphis Grizzlies, who are back in desperate territory on a four-game skid.

The Spurs are also one of the best rebounding teams and have logged nine games this year, scoring between 20 and 33 second-chance points. They are going into Memphis with a 12-5 road record, and their defense is slightly better out of Frost Bank Center.

Here is what you need to know ahead of the third Memphis-San Antonio matchup of the year.

Keep up the ball movement and go at Luke Kornet

The Spurs are a top-eight defense, potent at stopping the half-court and transition attacks. They do well against predictable offenses, so the ball movement will have to be as good as ever to find weak-side openings. Still, someone must arise, taking significant pressure off their teammates, and it will probably need to be Jaren Jackson Jr. because the crew is low on bodies. Including him in more inverted sets is ideal to create mismatches on drives to the hoop.

Luke Kornet is a fine backup big man, yet his biggest weakness is his inability to guard at the level of the screen. The Grizzlies must attack him through screen rolls because he will stay in drop coverage. The double-screen and stagger sets will be effective.

Pressure on De’Aaron Fox

Jaylen Wells will presumably get some time on De’Aaron Fox, as he spent four minutes guarding him in the Dec. 2 outing, per NBA stats. It’s a difficult assignment as Fox is making 70.1 percent of his shots at 0-3 feet, so promptly doubles will have to come in, yet Wells did a decent job last time. Additionally, Memphis has to get back in transtion quickly and limit the turnovers since Fox is a terror in the open-court.

Don’t lose track of their role players

The Spurs are a deep team and went seven straight games with a different leading scorer between Dec. 8 and 23. They have great guard play at all times, but no one can relax either when rookie Dylan Harper is getting the on-ball usage because he plays way ahead of his years and is never sped up.

Keldon Johnson is another big-time sub and efficiency monster. He muscles his way into close range and is making 42.7 of 3-point attempts (2.7). Hovering around the 3-point line is not his thing, but he can’t be given the shot as he’s had six games taking between five and nine, only shooting poorly on one of those nights.

On top of that, Julian Champagnie is a streaky shooter, but went off for a franchise-best 11 treys for San Antonio on New Year’s Eve against the New York Knicks, and had 20 points in Saturday’s narrow loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.