ON TODAY'S SCORECARD
From Red Hot to Suddenly Not

After cruising past the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday to finish February without a loss — just the third perfect month in franchise history — the San Antonio Spurs entered the weekend having won 11 straight games. 

“After the All-Star break, we had the conversation with the team of just, every game from now on, it means something,” said forward Julian Champagnie. “We’re fighting for something. We’re building something.”

The story has been center Victor Wembanyama who has been ridiculous during the run, averaging 22.5 points, 11.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 3.5 blocks and 1.4 steals in 29.3 minutes per game during the winning streak. He’s been a force down low, shooting 67% in the lane, while scoring 1.22 points per paint touch.

Wembanyama has blocked 38 shots during this winning streak — as many as, or more than, six teams in that span (Dallas, Phoenix, Golden State, Brooklyn, Indiana, Denver). And his impact extends to plenty of shots he doesn’t get, too: Opponents are shooting just 46% on 2-point shots with Wembanyama on the floor during this stretch, according to PBP Stats — more than six percentage points below what the NBA’s worst inside-the-arc-shooting offenses have managed during the full season.

The Spurs outscored opponents by a whopping 179 points in the 323 minutes Wembanyama has played during the streak — far and away the highest plus-minus in the NBA in the month of February.

But lo and behold, March rolled around and it all came to a crashing halt when the Spurs fell, 114-89, to the Kicks in New York yesterday. (See more on that game in our STAT OF THE DAY below)

Whether he’s incinerating an opponent to the tune of 40 points in three quarters, like he did to the Lakers, or mitigating a down shooting night by simply suffocating them, as he did to the Raptors in the fourth quarter on Wednesday or the Nets on Thursday, the sheer geometry- and probability-warping power of how Wembanyama deploys his dimensions necessarily makes every game he appears in about him.

That kind of gravity has a way of bending outcomes in your direction; when Wemby’s on the floor, performing like this, things seem to go the Spurs’ way a whole hell of a lot.

Monday, Mar 2

GOLDEN STATE over LA Clippers by 10

The second LA-LA murder mystery returns to the scene of the crime — the same floor where the Lakers took center stage Saturday night — and we’re back for an encore. We’ll admit it: Golden State has looked pretty gaudy in this series. But as Peter, Paul and Mary reminded us, “That was yesterday… and yesterday’s gone.” We reset the table with Golden’s 103-102 nip-and-tuck loss at the Intuit Dome on Jan. 5. Why does it matter? Because the Warriors are 13-8 ATS with same-season revenge off a one-point loss — exact. Now layer in the Clippers’ ugly 12-19 ATS mark as a dog versus foes they most recently beat by a single point. And with the Clips staring ahead to a triple-revenge showdown against Indiana next (0-3 SU/ATS in games before facing the Pacers), and the UDub returning home off a 28-point home loss to the Lakers on Saturday, you know where we’re headed tonight.
Case closed.

Courtesy of this week’s Playbook Hoops newsletter.

TRENDING TODAY
Hair Raising Situation

Following Villanova’s 32-point loss to St. John’s at Madison Square Garden in New York, Wildcats’ head coach Kevin Willard was asked about Rick Pitino's attitude at practice immediately after such a heavy defeat. He didn’t hold back with his answer.

“I’m not shit-ing you - I don’t have hair because of this guy,” said Willard, who is bald and in his first season as Villanova's head coach.

“I had a full head of hair when I started working for him. It’s the most miserable experience in life. You fear for your life every day. Everyone laughs when I say that, but you think you’re going to get fired. It’s miserable.”

Willard began his coaching career working under Pitino as an assistant with the Boston Celtics from 1997-2001 and then at Louisville from 2001-07.

“As he’s gotten older, he’s probably become more of a cranky old [expletive] than he was when I worked for him, but you literally fear for your life,” Willard said.

“He walks into the facility at 6:30 a.m., and you’ve been there since 5:30, thinking you have everything right, and he comes in and asks you the one question you don’t know. He’s that intense. He always has been. He’s got the most energy of any coach I’ve ever been around. I think that’s why he has 900 wins and national championships- because he does it better and more intensely than anybody.”

Willard is in his first season at Villanova, where he has the Wildcats at 22-7 and in a position to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022.

The 50-year-old Willard was previously the head coach at Maryland, Seton Hall, and Iona. His career head coaching record is 357-256, and he has led his teams to the NCAA Tournament.

But, he is only 1-9 in games against Pitino.

So, for all the misery he endured working for Pitino, at least some lessons from the legendary coach apparently stayed with him.

It just heightens when his team goes up against Pitino.