Victor Wembanyama didn’t like the Orlando Magic’s physicality during their 112-103 home victory on Sunday night, which culminated in Desmond Bane receiving a Flagrant 1 foul call with 1:47 left in the third quarter.
Bane took a cheap shot at Wembanyama’s midsection as the San Antonio Spurs center was jogging back on offense. Instead of cowering, Wembanyama embraced the physicality and finished with 25 points, eight rebounds, four steals, and five blocks on 7-for-13 shooting from the field and 11-for-15 shooting from the free throw line.
“I don’t think I was frustrated. I know they do that because they don’t want to play the game. They don’t want to play a basketball game. Our job on offense is to make it a basketball game, so that’s how we’re going to beat them,” Wembanyama told ClutchPoints’ Hector Ledesma. “It’s not just this game, it’s like this every night.”
“There’s no excuse. We needed to be ready for tonight. So, it doesn’t really matter. To be honest, there are worse back-to-backs when I think about it. The team traveled from here to here and is traveling to Orlando at 4 AM,” he added.
San Antonio Spurs News: Keldon Johnson lauds the team for “sticking together” vs. Orlando Magic
Before Sunday’s game, the San Antonio Spurs went through a grueling journey from Charlotte, North Carolina, to a detour in Atlanta, Georgia, before arriving in the Alamo City just hours before tip-off against the Orlando Magic. After the game, Keldon Johnson commended the team for taking care of business.
“I’m proud of my teammates, my coaches. I feel like we just stuck together, you know, at the end of the day, like the ball gonna go up at this time, when we landed there, we knew the ball was gonna go up at eight o’clock won’t be no excuses,” Johnson told KENS5.
“There’s no way out. Can’t lie down. And, you know, we got to figure a way. Found it out like, you know, and that’s what we did. We went out there, we fought, we prevailed. And that’s, that’s what’s most important. That’s what I’m most proud about,” he ended.
