NBA highlights on Oct. 29: Growing pains hurt Wemby and Spurs

The San Antonio Spurs lost to the Los Angeles Clippers 123-83 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, on Sunday.

Victor Wembanyama, the first-overall selection in the 2023 NBA Draft by the Spurs, underperformed on both ends of the game. He shot 4-for-10 from the field to get 11 points, five rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block with five turnovers in a little more than 26 minutes.

Lack of strength made it difficult for Wembanyama to work off the dribble in the low post. He easily lost balance after physical contact with his defender and either had his shooting form interrupted or lost control of the ball. For the same reason, he did poorly in boxing out.

The Clippers studied Wembanyama’s defense well, too. He covered a huge defensive area, thanks to his size, wingspan and agility, but the Clippers have league-top isolation scorer Kawhi Leonard, who can finish quick individual attacks away from Wembanyama. Even when the Clippers moved the ball to make plays, they were very careful to make sure that the finisher received the ball in a spot out of Wemby’s reach.

It would be unfair to blame Wembanyama alone for his underperformance. Even without dominant isolation skills, he can still be an efficient finisher both around the rim and outside the 3-point line, and the Spurs have a trustworthy playmaker to feed him the ball. Unfortunately, the team have no such resource. Their starting back-court pair Jeremy Sochan and Devin Vassell combined to deliver three assists with six turnovers. That explained why Wembanyama had to deal with the ball a lot; he might be the Spurs’ top-three passers, thanks to his height and vision.

The Spurs’ defensive plan was confusing in Sunday’s game. One of their few highlights happened when Wembanyama was sitting on the bench. The team, which had a small squad on the court during that period, double-teamed the Clippers’ ball-handlers aggressively and forced a series of turnovers that translated into easy buckets in fast break. Coach Gregg Popovich understandably wanted Wembanyama to maximize his defensive power by traveling around and providing help defense when he could. But sometimes, a defensive measure should be suited to specific situations, especially when Wemby is quick enough to patrol and trap.

Other games on Sunday (away teams appear first):

Golden State Warriors 106-95 Houston Rockets

When was the last time Chris Paul played off the bench? The answer is never because he had been a starter since he entered the NBA in 2005, until Sunday. Having ended his 1,365-game starting streak, including during the regular season and the playoffs, 38-year-old Paul came off the bench for the Warriors against the Rockets at Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. He achieved eight points, five rebounds and seven assists, helping the Warriors stand up to the rally and secure their second straight win.

Paul gave his starting position to Draymond Green, who made his season debut after returning from an ankle injury. He only played 20 minutes and obviously was still rusty, contributing four points, five rebounds and five assists with four turnovers. Andrew Wiggins continued to struggle as well. He went 4-for-10 in field goals (FGs) to get 13 points and two turnovers.

Three of the Warriors’ five starters were minus on the game, not only due to the underperformances of Green and Wiggins but also because they overworked to feed Klay Thompson and help him find his good form back. Thompson shot 5-for-10 from downtown to get 19 points, but the Warriors’ starting lineup was losing the majority of the time.

By contrast, all five backup Warriors players were plus in Sunday’s game, and Paul had the highest +22. His distributions of the ball enabled both Gary Payton II and Jonathan Kuminga to do simple finishing tasks well. It was Paul’s solid orchestrating work that kept the competition under control before Stephen Curry made four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to seal the deal for the Warriors.

Atlanta Hawks 127-110 Milwaukee Bucks

The Hawks finally secured their first win of the season after eight of their players scored double-digits against the Bucks at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Sunday. They shot higher than 50 percent from the field (47-for-93) partly because they forced 23 turnovers out of the opponents and exploited those turnovers to get 25 points via fast break.

By contrast, the Bucks only got seven fast-break points despite 17 turnovers the Hawks committed. Giannis Antetokounmpo, one of the most unstoppable players in transitional offense, only made one bucket on this front. Damian Lillard, who made an epic debut for the team earlier this week, missed 10 of his 12 shots to get only six points.

Denver Nuggets 128-95 Oklahoma City Thunder

Portland Trail Blazers 98-126 Philadelphia 76ers

Los Angeles Lakers 127-132 Sacramento Kings