A playbook against Wemby, 50/50 balls, and more takeaways from each Game 1

A quartet of Game 1s is in the books. The Wolves shocked the Spurs with an epic two-point win; the Knicks rampaged past the 76ers; the Thunder pulled away from the Lakers; and the Pistons battered the Cavs into submission.

We’ve learned some very interesting things these last few days. How much is real? We’ll know soon.

Let’s start with the most interesting game.

1) The Wolves found a few ways to attack Victor Wembanyama

You wouldn’t know it from the box score, which says that Victor Wembanyama had a triple-double with blocks¹, but it felt like the Timberwolves found a few plays and strategies to neutralize the big man’s historic defensive presence late in the game. (Could they have been saving these for high-leverage moments, or did Chris Finch develop them on the fly?) Allow me to highlight three flavors in chronological order, all of which occurred in the fourth quarter:

Exhibit A: Bulldoze Wemby out of the way

The simplest move is to box The Alien out of the play before he can even get involved. This could have been a designed rolling Gortat screen or just a clever improvisation from Minnesota’s Julius Randle, but it was effective either way. He gets into position early, sealing Wembanyama away from the rim. It’s perfectly timed with Edwards’ drive, and leaves Wembanyama a helpless bystander.

I’m not sure why teams don’t do this more often. Let’s go further. Steal a page from the NFL. Designate a player as the fullback and have them open a hole for your tailback by plowing right into Wemby. Let’s see some I-formation out here!

Exhibit B: Utilize his own teammate as a screener

With the injury absences of Donte DiVincenzo and Ayo Dosunmu, and with Anthony Edwards coming off the bench and hampered by his bum knee, the Wolves used Terrence Shannon as a point guard for much of the game. Shannon isn’t a playmaker, and he’s a poor outside shooter; he balances those weaknesses by running really fast in straight lines right at the basket (more effective than it sounds!).

With Rudy Gobert riding oak for much of the fourth quarter, the Spurs understandably wanted to station Wembanyama on Shannon, so Wembanyama could roam and protect the paint. The Wolves had counters to that, using Shannon as the initiator to force the historic big man into action on their terms.

Here, Shannon sets up with the ball on the wing, waiting for his opportunity to charge. Randle is targeting Wembanyama the whole way, closing one eye like an archer lining up his shot. When the moment comes, Randle wraps up his own defender (Stephon Castle) and simply drags him a half-step into Wemby’s path, blocking out the surprised big man as Shannon veers into the lane for a layup.

You can’t always get away with this kind of physicality, and Castle will be looking out for it next time. But I’d love to see the Wolves try this with other Spurs players. I’d bet we see a variation soon with, perhaps, Naz Reid using his defender as a human blockade.

Exhibit C: Take him up top

Here’s a classic Horns² set with a twist: The inversion of personnel.

Typically, Anthony Edwards would be the ballhandler, and Victor Wembanyama would be guarding one of the big men preparing to set a screen (or perhaps one of the shooters in the corner). Instead, the Wolves have Shannon take the rock, putting Wembanyama at the point of attack, and use Edwards as a surprise screener. Wemby’s not used to having his head on a swivel that high up, and he never sees Edwards’ steel-toed screen coming. Steph Castle is a bit too slow to recognize what’s happening, and he commits the foul.

Beautiful design (Jaden McDaniels’ meandering cut to the corner and fake screen on Dylan Harper occupies two defenders), beautiful execution.

There were a lot of interesting tactical adjustments in the fourth quarter, the most noteworthy of which was Rudy Gobert’s absence (he played just one minute!). The Shannon-centric actions work because Gobert isn’t in the middle mucking things up, and the Wolves scored a whopping 35 points in the fourth quarter.

That said, Gobert’s defense was excellent all game, and the Spurs scored 30 in the fourth themselves. When Wembanyama or the San Antonio guards play better, that offense/defense trade-off might not be worth it.

But it was for Game 1.