San Antonio was patched up in Miami on Sunday, before flying to the French capital.
Spurs on the relaunch? Not Sunday. Not in Florida. It might be for the matches in Paris, who knows. Victor Wembanyama and his little comrades in any case took the broth in Miami (128-107) on Sunday. Their sixth defeat in seven games. The worst part. The Texan club now has a record of 19 wins and 22 losses. Good for 12th place in the Western Conference standings. Beyond the result, it is above all the performance which calls out: San Antonio stammered its Basketball in Florida.
21 points and 10 rebounds to the credit of the 21-year-old French prodigy. A double-double in trompe-l'oeil. 23 points from Devin Vassell, who did what he could when the boat was sinking. On the Miami side, Duncan Robinson (21 pts) and Tyler Herro (18 pts) did the job. Nice performance from Terry Rozier (20 pts) coming off the bench. But the man of the match, the revelation, is Kel'el Ware: 25 points, 8 rebounds, a pair of assists and blocks and a +/- at +27. More than strong… To compare, know that Victor Wembanyama was at -10 in this sector.
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However, everything started well…
And yet, hungry for entry, “Wemby” scored 11 of his team's first 20 points (12-20), which made a good impression and took the lead (18-30, then 20-30 at the end of the 1st QT). Small close with two points from Herro (32-26), also under (very) good guard, and it started again (26-39), with the French giant on the bench. Too many errors to take the wide San Antonio side. And it finally fell in at three points for the Heat, at 0/9 until then, with Robinson and Ware from afar, then said Ware who beat Wembanyama to the circle (40-41). Barnes in the corner coming out of timeout… No. And Rozier for the triple (43-41). Miami in front for the first time. Lack of patience in attack for the Texans, and big air hole. Robinson again to drive the point home (46-41). San Antonio in reverse, “Wemby” broken down, his team with him. Incredible series of failures for the Spurs, unrecognizable (46-41 MT). Both teams under 40% on shots at the break, including 35.6% for the Alamo City club. Not pretty-pretty…
We could believe in a rebound after returning from the locker room, Wembanyama scoring his first points since the first quarter (49-46). Not long… Ware continued his festival, Robinson and Herro let loose. And San Antonio failing in everything. Basketball mush on offense. Omissions at all levels in defense, and that's undoubtedly the worst. Nothing to save except Vassell. And the gap which was swelling visibly (85-62). It rose to +27 in favor at the start of the fourth quarter (95-68). A performance worthy of last season.
Better for the end of the match, a little more seriousness, more accuracy and skill on the Spurs side, Chris Paul finally putting his nose to the window (100-86). “Wemby” offered a huge dunk on the head of Ware (105-88), the latter trying to do himself justice in the process. Issue ? Miami invariably continued to put in. Hard to jam the mechanics. We quickly understood that there would be no return to Florida for San Antonio (128-107 final score). Suitcases full of doubts in Paris.
