While his team remains on 16 consecutive defeats (tied franchise record), Gregg Popovich continues to try different formulas, and perhaps on Friday, he found the ideal starting five. The main novelty, against the Bulls, was to move Victor Wembanyama at position 5, to place Jeremy Sochan as a power forward, and to use Zach Collins off the bench.
A major change since Zach Collins has been the starter since the start of the season, and even since February 8! For those interested, this may be the right recipe.
Gregg Popovich does not want to justify himself
“I thought we looked pretty good,” he said after Saturday's training. “Having more punch off the bench will always help us take the pressure off the starters and I hope the spacing will work better.”
After the game lost against the Bulls, Gregg Popovich did not want to explain on his choice to place Malaki Branham at the lead, and to start with the Sochan-Wembanyama pair under the panels. “We discussed it for a while with the staff and we had to decide on what could be the best possible composition of the team at this stage. I don't have time to tell you everything we've been thinking about, and I don't want to. »
We will therefore not know if it is circumstantial, and above all linked to the fact that the Bulls almost all play behind the 3-point line, which was not really suited to the Wembanyama/Collins pair.
The challenge pleases Zach Collins
After his historic double “double-double”, “Wemby” in any case explained that he expected it and that he was not surprised. On an individual level, he had his best rebounding game of the season, but he was abandoned by his teammates in the field. The Bulls grabbed 24 offensive rebounds! We will therefore have to find the right balance, but Zach Collins sees no problem coming off the bench. It’s even a challenge that he likes.
“When you come off the bench, you don't have the luxury of quickly getting to the heart of the matter, of working your body and your mind. So you have to stay focused even if you're not in the match.” recalls the former Blazers. “But at the same time, you have to play your game, be aggressive and bring energy off the bench. This takes the pressure off the starters and every time you have a group that comes in to extend the lead or maintain it, it's a victory. That's what we tried to do. »
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Victor Wembanyama | 20 | 30.2 | 43.0 | 25.5 | 81.8 | 2.4 | 7.8 | 10.2 | 2.6 | 3.3 | 1.3 | 2.7 | 2.5 | 19.0 |
| Devin Vassell | 16 | 28.7 | 48.4 | 39.1 | 78.3 | 0.4 | 2.8 | 3.1 | 2.8 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 18.1 |
| Keldon Johnson | 20 | 32.9 | 47.9 | 37.8 | 73.8 | 1.1 | 5.4 | 6.5 | 4.1 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 2.6 | 17.0 |
| Zach Collins | 21 | 28.9 | 48.2 | 27.1 | 80.0 | 2.1 | 4.2 | 6.3 | 4.0 | 2.7 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 3.4 | 13.7 |
| Jeremy Sochan | 21 | 28.9 | 43.7 | 39.1 | 79.1 | 1.4 | 3.7 | 5.1 | 4.2 | 2.5 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 2.9 | 11.0 |
| Tre Jones | 18 | 24.2 | 43.8 | 30.0 | 88.9 | 0.6 | 2.4 | 3.0 | 5.2 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 8.2 |
| Cedi Osman | 21 | 19.6 | 45.4 | 37.5 | 68.8 | 0.5 | 1.7 | 2.2 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.7 | 8.0 |
| Malaki Branham | 21 | 20.3 | 41.7 | 29.9 | 90.9 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 7.9 |
| Doug McDermott | 19 | 16.8 | 47.3 | 47.9 | 75.0 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.8 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 6.7 |
| Julian Champagnie | 14 | 14.6 | 36.5 | 37.7 | 72.7 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 1.8 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 5.9 |
| Charles Bassey | 19 | 10.8 | 72.5 | 0.0 | 83.3 | 1.2 | 2.8 | 4.0 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 1.6 | 3.3 |
| Sandro Mamukelashvili | 7 | 7.8 | 40.0 | 28.6 | 83.3 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 1.9 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 2.7 |
| Devonte' Graham | 3 | 11.9 | 28.6 | 0.0 | 80.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 3.7 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 2.7 |
| Blake Wesley | 5 | 4.8 | 37.5 | 0.0 | 50.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 1.4 |
| Dominic Barlow | 7 | 5.0 | 42.9 | 0.0 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 1.1 |
| Sidy Cissoko | 1 | 4.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
