The Spurs suffered their first loss of the season to the defending champions Thunder, tonight in a 98-119 loss at Oklahoma’s Paycom Center. After the game, Victor Wembanyama spoke to the media at the press conference and addressed what it was like to go up against a hostile audience in Oklahoma.
“For sure,” said Wembanyama on being asked if a hostile audience gives him an extra edge of motivation to play better. “This is what makes us better, obviously more than a team that would ignore me, this makes me better.”
“I don’t think there’s too much that has changed from the previous games. They know what they are doing, and they did it well,” Wembanyama added, giving credit to the Thunder. “The crowd… this is okay,” the French star said as he downplayed the crowd’s hostility.
“It didn’t feel like that. Of course, I hear the booing. I heard one f**k you, but it was just one, you know what I mean?” said the Spurs star on whether he felt like a villain.
“I think it’s been more than that in other places. From the court, it felt like it wasn’t automatic [the hostile treatment from the crowd], but once we got some calls, it got louder,” concluded Wembanyama.
The Spurs’ head coach, Mitch Johnson, also resonated with a similar sentiment that Wembanyama did not have much of a problem in dealing with the hostile crowd in Oklahoma.
During the postgame press conference, he was asked about his opinions on Wembanyama’s handling of a “villain” role against the Thunder due to his apparent rivalry with Chet Holmgren.
“Yeah, there’s so much narrative around Victor. I think he’s proven at a young age that he’s pretty comfortable in his own skin.”
“I think it was his rookie year. We were in Madison Square Garden, and they were chanting ‘overrated!’ and we had a tough game. We played them not too long after that on Christmas Day, and he did okay.”
“So to me, that was a pretty good symbolism of [how he handles hostile crowds]. I think he embraces all of it appropriately without putting too much energy or overdoing it.”
The media anticipated the villain treatment for Wembanyama in Oklahoma due to his brewing rivalry with Chet Holmgren. And he started the game with a strong display upon targeting that matchup.
Wembanyama managed to give Holmgren trouble on the defensive end as he struggled to find any efficiency. The Thunder forward finished the game with eight points, 10 rebounds, and three blocks, going 1-4 from the field (25 FG%) and making six free throws.
Meanwhile, the French star ended up with 17 points, seven rebounds, and one block while shooting 7-15 from the floor (46.7%). While Wembanyama dominated his matchup with Holmgren, the other smaller players, like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (34 points) and Alex Caruso (13 points), seemingly found a way around his defense.
The Spurs fell to 27-13 following consecutive losses. After a three-game stretch on the road, the Spurs are now headed home to face the Bucks on Thursday, January 15.
Meanwhile, the Thunder extended their winning streak to four games, improved to 34-7 for the season, and are headed to Houston to face the Rockets on Thursday as well.
