Kevin Durant’s answer about Wembanyama comes off wildly disrespectful

You would think that from one athletic unicorn to another, Kevin Durant would have more respect for a player with rare ability at Victor Wembanyama's size. Apparently, that's not really the case—at least, not right now. After the Rockets knocked off their big brother Spurs last night, the two-time champion was asked about their defensive strategy for Vic. His response was... interesting.

Do you think that when Kevin Durant, at about 7'0" tall himself, has an off-shooting night, he scolds himself for not making more layups and dunks? I can't say with 100% certainty what goes through his mind after lackluster performances, but I'm pretty sure it's not that. I'm not sure why Vic wouldn't be afforded the same leeway.

His response makes it seem like the Alien is actually a very normal human center, whose focus should be on dominating in the paint only. He doesn't give his team's defense enough credit for getting away with grabbing Wemby all night, or, a more likely reason, Vic's tired legs. As someone Wembanyama looks up to, it's disappointing to hear that from him.

Wembanyama's struggles are easily explained

I went back and watched every shot San Antonio's franchise star missed, and there were certainly times he could have gone to the basket. More force would have been nice in this game. However, we've watched him do that all season, so the fact that he didn't could be an indication that he was feeling fatigued—especially in the last two quarters.

Wemby went 1/11 in the second half. I don't care what Durantula says; Vic's offensive game isn't that bad, and the Rockets' defense is nowhere near that damn good. The towering Frenchman had plenty of open looks that usually go in the hoop, and he just simply missed.

"Put a hand up" is an ineffective strategy when Wemby is on his game. He's 7'5" with an 8'0" wingspan. He doesn't even see you. What makes him an alien is his ability to do everything on the floor. He's allowed to have a bad shooting night. That doesn't mean he's playing basketball wrong.

Victor finished the night with zero blocks, got into foul trouble because of silly decisions, and couldn't make a shot late in the game. When you combine these factors, looking for an explanation, weariness is the best option. Add in the referee's refusal to blow the whistle for anyone in a silver and black uniform, and voila, you have your explanation.

The Spurs' bad whistle didn't help

The broadcasters kept harping on the refs establishing early that they wouldn't be calling a lot of fouls, but that doesn't really track when we see 10 free throws for the Rockets in the second half to only 1 for the Spurs. They even showed replays of several obvious fouls that went uncalled in Houston's favor, so we know for a fact that they got away with a lot.

There were reasons why Wembanyama wasn't himself, but it wasn't because Houston stopped him by putting an irrelevant hand up on his jump shots. It's because he was on the second night of a back-to-back after playing deep into the fourth quarter against Utah while still working his stamina back up.

A guy who's only played 30 minutes once in the past month is probably going to get tired if he's forced to play two days in a row. Let's use some logic here before we start disrespecting a great young player.

By the way, Wembanyama is shooting 38% from three in his third season at 7'5". Durant shot 36.5% from deep in his third year. Imagine if someone told him to stop shooting as much. What a ridiculous take.