Following Joel Embiid's historic performance against the San Antonio Spurs, Gregg Popovich spoke on his team's performance and Victor Wembanyama's learning experience.
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00:00 What do you say about him, Joel?
00:04 He's a fantastic player.
00:07 Obviously, in the running for MVP.
00:12 That's for sure.
00:13 But everybody already knew that, so it wasn't a surprise at all.
00:16 He's wonderful. He's playing such an all-around game, doing a great job.
00:20 It seems pretty obvious, but do you think Victor can get an education
00:23 out of just watching a guy like that go about his business?
00:25 Victor gets an education every game.
00:27 There's stuff to learn for rookies every single game.
00:30 It doesn't matter what the team is or who the players are.
00:37 You guys kind of hung in there for most of that first half.
00:39 Just the way you guys played overall tonight,
00:41 did you kind of stay with them for most of that game?
00:44 Were you proud of the effort you guys put up in the night?
00:46 Yeah, I thought we were great.
00:49 We're playing a team that is trying to win a championship,
00:52 but it's wonderful for our guys to see what has to take place.
00:57 We get everything that we were able to give.
01:00 That's the most important part, that you keep playing and keep playing
01:06 and keep learning.
01:09 Obviously, we're not going to be able to play these guys the way we would play
01:17 if we were also a championship ball club.
01:20 But given the fact that these guys are just learning how to play with each other
01:25 as young as they are, I've got to love what they did out there.
01:29 Might this have been the last minutes restriction?
01:33 You know Victor wanted to go back on the court and play, but he just can't.
01:38 With the minutes restriction, it doesn't work.
01:43 What was really tough for him was he wanted to be out there
01:45 while Joel was out there the whole time.
01:47 The minute thing doesn't work because Joel plays more minutes.
01:51 He'd be done halfway through the third quarter.
01:54 He wouldn't be able to play anymore because of the minute deal.
01:57 But it was fun to watch them all play.
02:00 Do you think it will be lifted during the home game?
02:02 I don't know. When it's lifted, it's lifted. I don't even think about it.
02:05 Somebody will come and tell me it's lifted. There's no sense even worrying about it.
02:08 News from trade routes, you seem to be enjoying it.
02:12 I don't know. I hope not.
02:14 He's very, very important to us, more than most people would expect.
02:19 But he's the heart and soul out there as far as keeping us together
02:24 and showing the grit night after night after night.
02:28 So hopefully he's not hurt. That would be tough.
02:31 The guy getting minutes behind him now is Blake Wesley.
02:34 Have you seen how he's responded to that?
02:36 Yeah, he's been very physical and been very aggressive.
02:39 Finding people at the offensive end and getting into people at the defensive end.
02:43 defensive end, so I like the way he's been playing.
02:45 Thank you.
02:46 Thank you.