Last-Minute News, Rumors, Reports before Spurs vs Jazz

Opening night against OKC, Wemby went one for 13 from the field. Yesterday against the Kings, though, 14 for 21. 24 of his 29 points came at the rim. He had nine dunks. Career high, 27 minutes. So here's a big question for tonight's matchup. Was that the Spurs finally getting it right, or was it just a Kings team that couldn't stop anybody? Because the Spurs are two and two. They lost the opener to OKC, lost to Houston on the last second block that I don't want to relive, but then they beat Dallas and Sacramento. So this is one of the first times all season, actually the first time, that they've had a chance to win three in a row and to get above 500. It's not going to be easy. It's the second night of a back-to-back on the road in Salt Lake City, and it's the first real big test. Quick look back because we called this one. Sacramento was 0-3, missing Keegan Murray, Ben Simmons, unfortunately, and Maxime Reynaud. And remember how the season started. Wemby said it himself on Monday, I wouldn't call it starting over, but I wouldn't call it starting where we left off either it's in between last season this team went all the way to the finals starting two and two feels like a long way down from where we were but the Spurs won 130 to 103 a 27 point win and had 80 points at halftime and it's also the first game this season where they held a team under 30 in the first quarter Sacramento got 29 Devin Vassell had said it before the game we've got to become the hunters again that looked like hunting and moving on to tonight why it matters for this game against Utah. In the first three games, the Spurs gave up 30 or more points in the first quarter every single time. So if Utah gets a hot start on you in Salt Lake City, you could turn this second night of a back-to-back into a quick loss that you didn't expect. 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Let's look at where Wemby's 29 points came from. 24 at the rim, nine dunks, mitch johnson said afterward he had better spacing cleaner execution and it wasn't just a one-night jump look at his shooting by game this year one for 13 against okc 43 against houston 50 against dallas 67 against sacramento and his points increased the same way 12 then 25 then 23 then 29 every game he's been closer to the rim than the last one and you compare that to Houston after the loss Wemby was asked about the last play of the game where he got blocked and he said i would have dunked the ball or four days later and he dunked it nine times getting Wemby these big performances is gonna go a long way and helping the Spurs get 60 plus wins and be the number one seed in the NBA and if you think that they can do that 25 on Calshi nets you a pretty penny this video is brought to you by Calshi where you're trading against real users not the house like traditional sports books you're buying yes or no contracts on real life events like politics like the weather like sports there's lots of things you can check out with the Spurs Wemby MVP i'm down for it so if you're interested in trying out Calshi use the link in the pinned comment or description down below. Trade $25 using code DIGESTMBA. Get $55 put in your account instantly. Thank you to Calshi for sponsoring this video. Keep an eye on the free throw attempts tonight, though. He just went to the line one time on Tuesday, and he did make it. So 14 for 21 is great. One free throw in 27 minutes means he's still not drawing the fouls, or they're just not hacking him. He's a 7'4 guy attacking the rim. Now, he gets one of the worst whistles in the league, but still, look, he got the looks because the guards also were feeding him the ball a lot more than we've been used to this season. He played just 27 minutes on Tuesday, and the Spurs were plus 22 in those minutes. In a blowout, that means he's fresh for the second night of a back-to-back, and the same goes for the starting guards. Fox played 26, Vassell 24, Castle 27, and Wemby has a bit of a history here. Against the Jazz in eight career meetings, he's averaged three assists against just 2.2 this season, so he's already used to seeing the double team and trying to find the open man a bit more against them. But I want to circle back to the guards for a second, because we once again saw Fox, Vassell, Castle, and Harper around Wemby to start that game, and all four had a hand in 35 assists on 49 made shots. Harper, six for seven from the field. Vassell, eight assists. Fox had six assists, and he only took six shots, and even the bench held up. Keldon Johnson scored 14 in 22 minutes, and we also had Castle, who was playing in a few of these different lineups, 15, five, and five. The Spurs got scoring from the starters, the bench, and all of their guards. As a team, the Spurs shot 54% from the field, 46 from three, and turned it over only 13 times. And that's what 35 assists does for you. And look at the plus minus too. Harper, plus 23. Fox, plus 22. Castle, plus 14. When the three guards are on the floor with Wemby, it seems like nobody can sag off anymore. This is kind of what we were looking at getting to with the lineups earlier this season. But we also have to talk about Julian Champagnie, who I haven't mentioned yet because I was saving it for this moment, 26 points in 25 minutes, eight for 13 from three, eight of 10 in the first half alone. He was on pace to break the record. The great thing about Champagnie is that he had more threes made in the first half of last game than he had made in the entire season of coming to that game. And Utah's seen him before. A little note for Champagnie heading into tonight. He's only averaging 2.8 boards a game this year, but we know that career number is a bit higher. And against Utah, he averages about four and a so look for him to crash the glass and crashing the glass is going to matter a lot Jackson with the torn MCL and Nurkic both out rebounding is what's going to matter a whole lot for San Antonio because if you can't protect the glass against a short-handed Utah team and you give up some second chance threes it's not going to be nearly as easy to win the game which is why this is not just a one-man Wemby show tonight the guards need to play that way Wemby hopefully will not need to force anything and if you can control the glass you're making it a whole lot easier on yourself the Jazz are 1-3. They lost to Memphis 110-105 on Monday, and they lost more than just the game as Jaren Jackson Jr. tore his MCL, but he's only out for six to eight weeks, so as far as torn MCL goes, I guess it's not too bad. Nurkic is out too with a foot injury. He gets re-evaluated in a couple weeks. Lauri Markkanen sprained his right wrist against Memphis, and the Jazz currently list him along with Walker Kessler as questionable, but Jackson, Nurkic, Alexander, and Buffkin, and Ingram, Spurs legend, are all out. Some of them two-way, some of them injuries. There is something to watch, though. The Jazz do have some solid young talent. You got Darren Peterson, you got Ace Bailey, you got Keontae George, and they are also rested. The Spurs are on the second night of a back-to-back, and they had to fly to Salt Lake City, which is pretty high up there in altitude, and the Jazz have just been chilling. And on our side, Tobias Harris thankfully is nearing a return from his calf. The status isn't confirmed as of the recording of this video. The report comes out later, but we do know that Jaden Quaintance, of course, is still out with his knee injury. So the Jazz are missing probably their best big. their starting center, maybe their best scorer, maybe. But this is the game Spurs fans should absolutely lock in on and a game that the Spurs really should win because per the previews, if Markkanen sits, Utah will probably lean on some other guys up front. I don't know, maybe Filipowski, maybe Ace Bailey, but neither of them is much of a rim protector. So without so many big men, the Spurs should be able to pressure the rim a lot, which is again where Victor Wembanyama comes in off that nine dunk performance. Don't forget though, Mitch Johnson's going to hold him to a high standard. He subbed Wemby out when he wasn't very happy with the performance recently. After Dallas, he said, quote, our floor right now is way too low. Two good games don't change that. And with Utah's bigs out, the question is who plays center, especially as a backup for San Antonio? Because we have to look at what Teresri did again on Tuesday. Five minutes, four points, five boards. He made both his shots and the Spurs were plus five. If you look at Cornette, in 17 minutes, he had no points and only four rebounds on 0 for 2 shooting. three times the minutes not one point and fewer rebounds it's look it's not a one night thing either now Cornette has zero points in his last two games and I know he's the veteran that the team relies upon but Tre Jones Jr. has kind of made himself inevitable and he even said himself quote that's my game that's what San Antonio brought me here to do to rebound and Tre Jones of course is not new to this he scored the first basket of his career in Dallas on Saturday he said the Spurs brought him here to be a physical force but again to be fair to Cornette Mitch Johnson has complimented his play over this past weekend. He had 7.8 rebounds a game in six career meetings against the Jazz. So Cornette has actually done well for himself in this matchup. But this season, he only has 11 points and 12 rebounds in 59 minutes. And the Spurs are on minus 35 when he plays. Reed is just a handful of minutes, but he is currently making them count a lot more. So with Utah being shorthanded on their bigs, I think this is a big opportunity to play Terrace Reed in maybe 10 to 15 minutes. I would love it. I can't guarantee Mitch is going to do it, but I think a lot of us would petition for it. Quick note too on Carter Bryant. He had a season high 17 minutes on Tuesday, but just one point and 0 for two shooting. Look, 14th pick in the draft. Last season, he averaged 4.2 points and shot 41% from the field. So this isn't new. I get it if some of you are worried, five points in four games, but the Spurs were just plus 10 with him on the floor. He had two assists and a block. I'm not ready to throw in the towel on him yet, not by a long shot, but he definitely is someone to monitor, especially if the Spurs get out to a big lead. So what am I watching tonight? Rim pressure, rim pressure, rim pressure, rim pressure, rim pressure, right? We got to just see if the Spurs can continue to execute Wemby as well with a shorthanded Utah squad, a few more dunks, get out to an early lead, go quick. We also have to see if Champagny can continue to knock down his threes and that backup center battle. It's going to be really fun to witness how Mitch Johnson navigates this one. Don't forget what Mitch said on Tuesday. Every game has gotten a little bit better, and that's the bar tonight. Not perfect. You just have to be better than you were in the last game. And if the Spurs lose this one, it won't be because Utah has the better team. It'll be because the Spurs didn't show up on the second night. That is the tell. Spurs are 2-2. A win tonight on the second night of a back-to-back is the first sign that this team is back where it left off. And Wemby said it himself, it's in between. Now, I want your take. Do the Spurs win in Utah tonight? And by how many? Let me know what you think about the center matchups as well. How you think the Spurs are going to bounce back or bounce forward, might I say, after that great win against Sacramento. Thank you for watching every single day. Catch you all in the next one.