The sequence is already viral. While the Spurs are warming up, Joel Embiid enters the field, just behind Victor Wembanyama. The Sixers pivot is therefore a few centimeters from the Frenchman, and he takes the opportunity to stand up straight, just to measure himself against his opponent.
On his face you can see how impressive the size of “Wemby” is when you uncover him.
Before the match, Gregg Popovich joked about the advice he had given to his player…
“We’re going to bludgeon him” the Texan coach joked. “I told Wemby to stick to him, put his butt on his chest and run him back to the rim, to dunk on him. This is what you should expect tonight. But don't tell Wemby I told you. »
After the meeting, the Spurs coach could only see the damage, explaining that Joel Embiid was a “fantastic player”. “He’s in the running for MVP, but everyone already knows that. »
A feeling of helplessness
As for Victor Wembanyama, who was undoubtedly expecting to get into trouble all evening, he was visibly a little surprised by the finesse of his opponent.
“He doesn’t play that much on his physique” explained the Frenchman. “He plays a lot from mid-distance. But when he wants to, and he attacks one-on-one, it's very hard to stop him when he crashes into you. »
A feeling confirmed by Devin Vassell.
“He was unstoppable. We tried to move him away from the circle, to take two shots, to place different players on him. It was special. We sent all the defenses we had on him. If he missed, he got his own rebound. He couldn't miss anything. That’s the feeling it gave” detailed the rear.
But faced with Joel Embiid's show, and his 70 points, Gregg Popovich liked the will of Victor Wembanyama, who did not back down in the duel and did not wish to avoid the defensive challenge.
“What was hard for him was that he really wanted to be on the field at the same time as Joel, but his (limited) minutes didn’t allow it.” concluded the coach about his rookie. “So Joel played more because he (Victor Wembanyama) should have come out in the middle of the third quarter. He would not have been able to play afterwards because of this minutes limit. But it was nice to see them all play. »