'Of Course!' How Spurs Rookie Victor Wembanyama Used Celtics Loss As A Learning Experience
SAN ANTONIO — Victor Wembanyama almost met his match at center-court tipoff.
In a squatting stance waiting for the matchup's crew chief, Brian Forte, to send the basketball into the air for him and Boston Celtics forward Kristaps Porzingis to compete for, Wembanyama felt ready to go. He was locked in.
But so was the 7-2 center standing directly across from him. And for once, Wembanyama wasn't towering over his opponent.
"Now that I'm in the league, it happens more regularly than before,” Wembanyama said of facing a player with similar height. But of course, it's always different to play against those types of players."
This season, the San Antonio Spurs rookie has faced some of the league’s premiere big men. He’s squared off against his longtime friend Rudy Gobert, seen Karl Anthony-Towns and even gone head-to-head against Oklahoma City Thunder rookie Chet Holmgren.
Every game he plays, he learns. Adapts. Makes improvements. And playing Porzingis was no exception.
"Of course, he's been someone who's been very interesting to me for years,” Wembanyama said. “It [was] good to finally be able to matchup against him. ... He was someone I used to look up to as a kid."
Dec 31, 2023; San Antonio, Texas, USA; San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) faces off against Boston Celtics forward Oshae Brissett (12) in the second half at Frost Bank Center.
© Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports
It makes sense why. Porzingis is a European big man North of 7-feet tall and with plenty of talent. Wembanyama might not have studied his game specifically — likely due to his wanting to be unique — but the Celtics’ big man made for an easy role model.
But it wasn’t just Porzingis that caught Wembanyama’s attention. It was the entire Celtics team.
"Just looking at them, I can feel that compared to past years, they have something extra,” he said. “Of course, it's difficult to play against them and it's a good challenge, but I think we learned. We learned today. They made very few mistakes, and that's inspiring."
Boston did in fact make far and few mistakes. From the jump, it made it clear that San Antonio was not in for an easy task, and by the midway point of the second quarter, the Spurs’ hope for a win was slim.
It got bad enough down the stretch to warrant Gregg Popovich sitting down his starting squad in place of an all-reserve unit to get experience in what was becoming an obvious blowout.
But he wasn’t too concerned about the loss, especially considering the differences between his team and Boston’s.
“They’re a championship-caliber team,” Popovich said. “That’s what they’re out there for. That’s their goal, and they proved it once again. That’s a tough challenge.”
Though Boston did what it set out to do and the Spurs fell short once again, there was one aspect of the game that the coach said he was pleased with.
“The effort was there,” Popovich said. “It helps to make shots, and we didn’t. They were great shot-makers tonight, and you have to keep up with that. We didn’t … but I was pleased with their effort and their ability to hang in as best as they could.”
So, while the Spurs took the opportunity to learn from a team capable of putting up mistake-free performances, Wembanyama got his chance to work on his defense against some of the league’s top scorers.
And if nothing else, he added another team to his mind radar and personal scouting report.
"There's always that question for me," Wembanyama said. "I'm trying to have a big defensive role, so there's always [those] questions of 'How much can I leave this player? Can he shoot?
"'How much space can I give him?'"
When his team was down big, Wembanyama naturally felt the frustration, but he chose to focus on the positive aspects, which against the Celtics, meant understanding the importance of adaptability.
And he made that his main priority.
"Any way I can help my team, I [want to]," Wembanyama said. "If tonight it was scoring 15 points in the first half, tomorrow it might be grabbing 10 rebounds or blocking five shots. ... I took what came to me in the first half ... It's going to be different every game."
Wembanyama might have lost, but he learned from it. The entire team did. Playing Porzingis and a team full of All-Stars made that part easy.
But even though that was the only “easy” part of New Year’s Eve for San Antonio, it understands that it still has a long way to go.
So, for now, it’s focused on playing one game at a time. And learning along the way.
