How film work led to Wemby's dunking dominance in Spurs' lopsided win

SALT LAKE CITY -When the Spurs watched film of the season’s first three games earlier this week, the need for defensive improvement was a big point of emphasis.

But it wasn’t the biggest one.

While they spent substantial time exploring ways to start games stronger defensively after giving up 30-plus points in the first quarter of each outing, the Spurs’ meatiest discussion focused on how to jump start All-Star center Victor Wembanyama after he averaged just 20.0 points on 36.5% shooting from the field and 25.0% accuracy from 3-point range.

“We got to get Vic more involved,” forward Devin Vassell said after practice Monday. “We talked about it in the film (session). We’ll see where he can get more touches and we can help him out with him rolling and getting to the basket.”

Their study paid off Tuesday night when Wembanyama scored a season-high 29 points on 14 of 21 from the field in a 130-103 thrashing of lowly Sacramento at the Frost Bank Center. Although he went 0 of 3 from 3-point land, it didn’t matter because he feasted in the paint, recording a career-best nine dunks after totaling only 10 in the first three games.

The 7-foot-4 Frenchman’s dominance down low started early with a pair of buckets on lob passes from De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle in the first 2:19.

“We always try to do it, because (the dunk) is the most efficient shot in the game,” said Wembanyama, who also had 10 rebounds and five blocks in 27 minutes. “The strength of our team is, as an opponent you have to take care of multiple threats. There’s always something open. This time, the lob was open early. That opened up stuff for my teammates later on.”

To the 22-year-old Frenchman’s point, Julian Champagnie pumped in 26 points off the bench powered by hitting 8 of 13 from downtown in helping the Spurs gain their first home victory of the season and improve to 2-2 ahead of Wednesday night’s game at Utah.

But it was Wemby’s paint perfection that was the big story.

In all, 24 of his points came at the rim, an effort that helped his career-worst 1-of-13 nightmare from the field in the season-opening loss to Oklahoma City fade into the distance.

And it all began with the coaching staff’s film breakdown Monday.

“Better spacing, cleaner execution,” coach Mitch Johnson said of what led to Wembanyama’s slam fest. “He continued to roll and trust it and allow his teammates to make him better at times. And they rewarded him.”

Champagnie said the Spurs made it a point to do a better job of moving without the ball as they raced to their highest offensive output of the young season while recording a season-best 35 assists against just 14 turnovers.

“There was a lot of running around today, more than the past couple of games,” he said. “Run to the corners, get in space, moving with some urgency and also passing the ball around. We made defenses move. There’s really no answers for all that ball movement. We feel it sometimes when we play teams. It’s tough to guard all that running and passing. It will help him a lot.”

As do the film sessions.

“That’s our job, to help all of them and put them in better actions with better spacing and educate them on the opportunities and how to execute them,” Johnson said. 

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This article originally published at How film work led to Wemby’s dunking dominance in Spurs’ lopsided win.