San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson shared his reaction to superstar Victor Wembanyama’s struggles in the team’s season opener.
Wembanyama, one of the NBA’s top players, had a very rough night in the Spurs’ 116-104 loss to the rival Oklahoma City Thunder in both teams’ respective season openers.
Wembanyama was just 1-for-13 from the field, including 0-for-4 from the 3-point range, and was overall shockingly ineffective for a Spurs team that struggled all night long.
Although the Frenchman ultimately finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds for a double-double, 10 of those points came on free throws. Moreover, the team lost the game after going down by 24 points in the first half, a deficit they were not able to overcome despite playing better in the second half.
Mitch Johnson Comments on Poor Showing by Victor Wembanyama
Speaking to reporters after the game, coach Johnson shared his thoughts on Wembanyama struggling in the Spurs’ season opener.
“I think everybody struggled pretty equally. I know obviously his field goals will stand out, but we all participated in that one,” Johnson said.
Obviously, Johnson did not want to single out Wembanyama as the only Spur who had a bad game, as the team in general played poorly against the Thunder.
That being said, this Spurs team revolves all around the play of Wembanyama, and if he misses 12 of his 13 shots from the field, San Antonio will have a hard time winning games, just as any team in the NBA would struggle if their best player missed that many shots from the field in a game.
Mitch Johnson Disappointed by Team Effort
In Johnson’s view, the Spurs in general played poorly in the game, as he feels like the team came out with a ton of energy and blew it early on, while the Thunder managed their energy better.
“I thought we came out probably a little amped up, which would be understandable. I don’t think we put our energy or tried to channel our energy in the right places. Didn’t feel very connected; execution wasn’t very good. I thought we competed and played hard, but I thought we didn’t put our energy in the right places. I thought Oklahoma City played a cleaner game. I thought in the third quarter we tried to get going, but again, a team of that caliber and just in this league in general, it’s hard to try and pull that switch and play them to hold and put it all together like that mid-game,” Johnson said.
The good news for San Antonio is that this is a long season and one that still has 81 regular-season games to go. The odds are that the Spurs are going to be one of the top teams in the league this season when it’s all said and done, but there is no doubt that Wembanyama needs to play much better and be far more effective with his field-goal shooting if the Spurs are going to achieve their goal of being NBA Champions this year.
Mitch Johnson Reacts to Bad Victor Wembanyama Season Opener