Wembanyama skipped the media, but Stephon Castle and De’Aaron Fox are calling for ultimate aggression in Game 6. Can the Spurs force a Game 7 or will the Thunder head to the Finals?, Yankee Scores reports…
San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson didn’t hold back after Game 5, telling reporters that Victor Wembanyama must drop more points to help the team in Thursday’s game 6.
After leveling the series 2-2, Spurs were underwhelming last night, losing 114-127 to the defending champions Thunder.
“Wemby Must Score More”
Wembanyama scored 20 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 steals but according to his coach, it wasn’t enough.
“He’s got to take more than 15 shots,” Johnson said. “Even with the [12] free throws, he’s going to have to score more than 20 points for sure.”
Wembanyama was obviously gutted by the loss and refused to speak to the media.
Wembanyama scored a career-low 27% from the floor in playoff games, but he shot an incredible 100% from the charity stripe with 12-of-12 attempts, grabbing six rebounds and making three blocks for the Spurs, who lost two consecutive games on the road for the first time since their three-game slide in January.
Calls for Aggression
When asked whether it was his aggression or their strategy that led to that playmaking ability, Johnson said it was both.
“OKC did a good job. We’ve got to do a better job,” Johnson said. “That’s probably the easiest in terms of when you [look at] surface-level stuff that he’ll definitely need to take more shots. But there’s a lot of things all over the place. Even when we had advantages, we just didn’t make simple plays and take advantage of the opportunity, that possession. In this type of game, you’ve got to be sure of everything you’re doing in a very secure, mature way.”
Castle Tasks Wemby on Aggression
“I think they send so many bodies towards him, it’s hard at times,” Stephon Castle said. “I think he just wants to make the right play and wants to win. So, it’s tough. But yeah, he’s our best player. We need him to be aggressive. I feel like him being aggressive opens up shots for other guys.”
“We don’t want our season to end this week,” De’Aaron Fox said. “You don’t want to get down, but we got down. You have to be willing to fight back because you lose today, then lose in two days, your season is over. We don’t want that to happen.”
