Wemby Takes Blame, Watch Everything Spurs Star Said After Game 3 Loss to SGA, Thunder in New Video
Victor Wembanyama is shouldering the blame for the San Antonio Spurs’ 123-108 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals.
Speaking to reporters after Friday’s defeat (starts at 1:03 mark), Wembanyama explained he feels like “I have trouble making my teammates better right now” and he needs to “be more of a team player” as far as moving the ball around:
“I feel like I’m having trouble making my teammates better right now. My shooting splits aren’t terrible. I need to be more of a team player, facilitate better, rebound the ball better, push their defense a little bit further and see how much they need to help with my teammates and [then] feed them.”
With the series shifting to San Antonio for Game 3, the Spurs gave their home fans plenty to cheer about early by jumping out to a 15-0 lead in the first three minutes.
That would be the high point of the game for the Spurs, as the Thunder outscored them by 30 points over the final 45 minutes to improve to 5-0 on the road this postseason.
Wembanyama highlighted the youth and inexperience of this Spurs team before noting that this type of adversity against the defending NBA champs will be a great test to show what they are made of:
“I feel like each and every one of us got to be better. It’s just that as a team, as an organization, there’s a lot of new experiences. We’re just going to have to find the answers. It’s my first playoffs. It’s the first playoffs for many of us. Of course, there was going to be hard trials. That’s to be expected. But now, we’re going to see what we’re made of.”
Wembanyama was able to get his points with 26 on 8-of-15 shooting, but Oklahoma City did a great job of keeping him off the boards. He had just four rebounds, including zero on the offensive end.
It was Wemby’s first time without an offensive rebound since Game 5 of the first-round series against the Portland Trail Blazers. He had 14 offensive rebounds in the first two games vs. Oklahoma City.
The second half, in particular, was about as one-dimensional as Wembanyama has been this postseason. He put up 16 of his 26 points, but had one rebound, no assists and no blocks in 21 minutes after the intermission.
San Antonio was back at full strength on Friday night, with De’Aaron Fox playing for the first time in the series after missing Games 1 and 2 due to an ankle sprain. He played well with 15 points, seven rebounds and six assists in 31 minutes.
Ultimately, the Spurs’ ability to compete with Oklahoma City in this series depends heavily on Wembanyama being the best player on the floor. He did that in Game 1 with 41 points and 24 rebounds in a double-overtime win.
The Spurs will need a quick turnaround as they look to avoid a 3-1 series deficit with Game 4 scheduled for Sunday at 8 p.m. ET.
