Victor Wembanyama has now missed the final 10 video games, and the Spurs proceed to outlive (7-3) with out each him and Stephon Fortress (who’s missed the final 9 video games). It has been a troublesome schedule of late, with six of the Spurs’ final seven video games on the highway and 6 of the final eight towards groups presently over .500.
Three takeaways
1. Luke Kornet has began in Wembanyama’s place and preserved the Spurs’ win in Orlando on Wednesday by blocking Franz Wagner on the buzzer. Opponents have shot 37-for-87 (42.5%) on the rim when Kornet has been there, the perfect rim safety mark amongst 145 gamers who’ve defended a minimum of 50 pictures on the rim. However he missed the Spurs’ loss in Cleveland on Friday, when the Cavs scored 62 factors within the restricted space, 14 greater than they’ve scored in some other sport.
2. With the win in Orlando, the Spurs are 10-3 (with 4 straight wins) in video games that have been inside 5 factors within the final 5 minutes and have the league’s second-ranked clutch offense. De’Aaron Fox scored their final 11 factors towards Memphis on Tuesday after first creating the nook 3-pointer that Keldon Johnson drained to place the Spurs forward with a bit of greater than three minutes to go.
3. The Spurs have suffered on the glass (on each ends of the ground) with out Wembanyama. They rank twenty fourth in whole rebounding share (48.2%) over his absence, down from fourth (53.4%) over the 12 video games that he was in uniform.
Arising: The Spurs will end their pre-Cup schedule in New Orleans on Monday earlier than flying to L.A. for the NBA Cup quarterfinals two nights later. Considered one of their three clutch losses got here at Crypto.com Enviornment in early November.
