The Spurs dominated the Lakers in an NBA Cup quarterfinals game that wasn’t even as close as the 132-119 final score indicated. It was an extremely impressive performance from San Antonio, especially considering that the Lakers were at full strength but the Spurs were playing without Victor Wembanyama.
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Wemby’s explosive start to the season generated instant MVP buzz and had fans talking about the Spurs as a real contender in the West, but unfortunately, a calf strain suffered against the Warriors nearly a month ago has kept him out of action.
That’ll likely keep him from MVP consideration since he’ll already have a tough time playing the requisite 65 games to be eligible for postseason awards, but surprisingly, the Spurs have kept on trucking by going 9-3 without him. An underrated reason why they’ve been able to do that is Luke Kornet, the free agent center they signed away from the Boston Celtics this offseason.
Kornet was on the wrong end of a LeBron James posterization last night, but he got the last laugh as he finished with 10 points and 8 rebounds in the easy win.
After the game, Spurs point guard De’Aaron Fox joined Amazon’s NBA Nightcap. Hilariously wearing a shirt with Kornet celebrating like Usain Bolt after coming up with the game-winning block against the Magic’s Franz Wagner last week, he extolled the center’s virtues.
“Luke’s been great, man,” Fox told NBA Nightcap’s Blake Griffin. “On and off the court, he’s been great for us. You feel like he’s one of the best backup bigs in the league, and then obviously, Vic goes down, he steps into that role just seamlessly.”
Outside of being a good shot-blocker and rebounder, Kornet doesn’t stuff the stat sheet. What he does bring are those winning intangibles that positively impact the whole team. “Luke is great, he’s a great dude,” Fox said. “Just being around him, both on and off the court, you feel his energy.”
Wemby went through shootaround and pregame warmups against the Lakers, though he ultimately sat out. Still, that’s a good sign that he’ll be back for the semis against OKC on Saturday. As well as the Spurs have played, they’ll need him, because the Thunder are off to the best start in NBA history and show no sign of slowing down any time soon.
This will be the first time these two teams have met this season, but they’ll be seeing a lot of each other in the next two weeks, because they also play a home-and-home that spans from December 23rd to a Christmas Day matchup.
The Spurs will need every bit of Wemby and Kornet to counter Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein, not to mention Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the rest of OKC’s stacked lineup.
