The Phoenix Suns moved to 12-8 on the young regular season Wednesday night, finishing up Emirates NBA Cup group play with a 104-93 win over the San Antonio Spurs. A matchup that worryingly saw Kevin Durant not return after half-time with a suspected ankle sprain.
This group have already had to deal with their fair share of injury setbacks, although there was better news in the form of Devin Booker entering the 15,000 points club. His ability to stay healthy so far this season has also been hugely important – as despite some passive performances – this team would be lost without his nightly output.
The second year superstar already looks like he could win the Defensive Player of the Year award, and he’s going to be a problem for the Suns and the rest of the Western Conference to contend with for many, many years to come yet. With former Suns’ point guard Chris Paul along for the ride, it is clear Wembanyama is already a much improved player on his fantastic rookie campaign.
But if there’s one area that he continues to lean into, it is his love for 3-point shooting. Not that Wembanyama shouldn’t take these shots, he has an excellent stroke that literally nobody on the planet can block. At 35 percent though, there is no way he should be taking an eye-popping 9.2 per game.
This is nearly double the 5.5 he attempted in his maiden season in the league, and the returns haven’t been worth chucking up that many shots yet. Perhaps Wembanyama doesn’t want to mix it in the paint every night, for fear of getting injured. Given what has happened to Chet Holmgren of the Oklahoma City Thunder – and they have similar body types – that might be a smart move.
But where Wembanyama really slipped up against the Suns was not realizing that they were there for the taking inside the paint, and that was before Durant even exited the game. Starting center Jusuf Nurkic is currently out with a right thigh contusion – and although Wembanyama is much more skilled than Nurkic anyway – the Bosnian would have been overly physical to try and stop him.
Instead Wembanyama went up against rookie Oso Ighodaro, who tallied 28 minutes. He was backed up by Mason Plumlee, who saw 19 minutes of action. Both are physical players themselves, and Ighodaro has the kind of hops that no other center on the Suns’ roster possesses. But Wembanyama should have gone at both these guys much harder.
Instead he shot 1-of-9 from deep and finished with 15 points, failing to make the Suns pay for being short-handed across their frontcourt. Incredibly, the Suns managed to hold him scoreless in the first-half. If anything rookie guard Stephon Castle was more of a problem, his 16 points and manner in which he puts himself about both ends of the court ensuring he has a bright future in the league.
The Spurs ended up going 8-of-44 from 3-point range on the night, with Devin Vassell accounting for four of these off the bench. The Suns were a much more efficient 11-of-32 – and although head coach Mike Budenholzer has preached more shots from deep this season – the Suns didn’t need to overdo it on this occasion.
Instead they took what the Spurs gave them, and made enough 3-pointers to keep their opponent honest. Contrast that with Wembanyama – who could have had a monster game – but instead continued to let it fly and miss from beyond the arc. The Suns profitted on this occasion – but as soon as “Wemby” figures out how to mix up his offenive possessions – the Suns will be in trouble.
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