Wemby Says: How the Spurs Became Nearly Unbeatable

How did this young San Antonio Spurs team become a juggernaut with a legitimate chance at chasing down the best record in the NBA, and perhaps even winning a title this year?

The answer obviously starts with 7-foot-4 superstar Victor Wembanyama, but lurking behind his dominance is the league's deepest team firing on all cylinders. They've won 12 of their last 13 games, they've beaten all of the other top teams, and they've done so with the kind of egalitarian basketball that we've come to expect from this San Antonio franchise.

“When we play like this as a team, I think we are the best team in the world,” Wembanyama said after the Spurs dismantled the 76ers in Philadelphia by a score of 131-91.

Wembanyama scored just 10 points on 5 shots in this contest, but he was one of seven Spurs in double figures. That's actually a little low for a San Antonio team that has eight guys averaging 10 or more per game. The other two players in the 10-man rotation are dirty-work specialist Luke Kornet and rookie Carter Bryant, who has been coming into his own since the start of the new year.

The shorthanded Sixers threw everything they could at Wembanyama, grabbing, shoving, and double teaming him all night. Wemby still managed to dominate the game his own way, blocking six shots and disrupting or deterring many more. And while Philadelphia focused all of their energy on giving Wembanyama some brotherly love, his teammates moved the ball and cashed in from all over the floor.

It's like Die Hard with a Vengeance (easily the best Die Hard thanks to Spurs fan Samuel L Jackson, though the original is a classic and the fourth one with Justin Long is fun too). Simon Gruber establishes a dangerous threat, and while the cops use all of their manpower and resources to solve his riddles and deal with that threat, Gruber and his men are using the distraction to fill a fleet of dump trucks with more gold bars than are in your Fort Knox.

"My role is to keep making sure they keep having advantages," Wembanyama said. "Keep rolling, keep hitting on screens until the opponent decides to do something different, which they didn't. So, please. Let them enjoy."

San Antonio is 23-7 when Wembanyama scores 20 points or more, but he doesn't have to do that to manipulate the other team like a game of Simon Says. Wemby says leave a shooter open in the strong-side corner. Wemby says get yourself into foul trouble. Don't even try attempting a shot in the paint. Uh-oh, he didn't say "Wemby says!"

While everyone on the opposing side keys in on the gigantic MVP candidate, the Spurs punish them for that as a collective. This team is practically unbeatable when they meet certain thresholds in a few different KPIs as a group. They're 20-2 when they log 30 assists or more, and 27-3 when they shoot at or above league-average efficiency from 3-point range at 36%.

In the last 13 games, everybody is doing their job at a high level to achieve those outcomes.

San Antonio's formidable guard trio is slicing defenses apart to generate layups and wide-open looks for shooters. De'Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, and February's Western Conference Rookie of the Month Dylan Harper are combining for 44 points and 17.5 assists per game since February began. Over 25 of those points are scored in the paint. As a group they're shooting right around 30% from deep, which is alright considering their main job is to attack downhill and set up the snipers on the wing.

Devin Vassell leads the team in makes (2.7), attempts (5.8), and percentage (46.7%) from 3 in this stretch. Julian Champagnie is making 41.2% on 5.2 attempts per game, Harrison Barnes is at 42.6% on a similar volume, and Carter Bryant has confidently knocked down over 41% on 3.5 attempts per game. Keldon Johnson's long-range shooting has dipped a bit, but he more than makes up for it with his energy and relentlessness.

Teams will continue attempting to beat up Wembanyama and the Spurs. Outside of just hoping that San Antonio misses their shots, there's not much else they can do. However, playing physical isn't a guaranteed path to victory. It didn't work for the Thunder, or the Pistons, or the Raptors, or the Sixers. Guys like Castle, Kornet and Keldon will continue beating opponents up in response, and more often than not the Spurs win the battle physically, mentally, and basketballogically.

This team has several simple formulas for reaching victory, and they get better at executing them all the time. The formula for beating them is far more complicated. Much like John McClane and Zeus trying to get exactly four gallons of water into a five-gallon jug with no markings, the rest of the league is running out of time to figure it out. And while they're trying to solve the riddle, the Spurs are driving off with 14 dump trucks full of gold.