SGA’s awkward Wemby answer about Isaiah Hartenstein’s defense confused everyone

Victor Wembanyama is seemingly an unsolvable problem for the NBA. Anyone who’s watched a single game Wemby plays realizes that there’s no good way to stop a player his size, with his skill, and his versatility on both ends of the court.

The Thunder figured out how to handle him on Wednesday night: Just foul the ever-loving hell out of him, and hope that enough don’t get called that it alters the outcome. This worked, with Isaiah Hartenstein playing the role of goon to perfection as Wembanyama was held to 21 points on 50 percent shooting from the field.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was asked about Hartenstein’s impact on the game, and he didn’t quite know how to respond.

Zora Stephenson: You all made a pivot defensively, Hart on Wemby — what kind of impact did Isaiah have tonight?

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: Ummm… I’m not sure if it was good, to be honest. Yeah.

Stephenson: Break that down for me. Why was his impact not good?

SGA: It was alright. It was good, it was good. We wanted to switch it up, give ‘em different looks. That’s what you gotta do against good players, switch it up, give ‘em different looks — and we did that tonight.

Shai’s answer was fascinating and has everyone picking it apart. Was he just being coy initially, like he didn’t want to condone the tactics OKC used? Is he worried that this could lead to a Wemby revenge game, or tighter refereeing as a result? Did he truly just not like how they approached the matchup?

No question sticking iHart on Wemby to be draped over him all game long toed the line of being acceptable, because how often do you get an in-game highlight reel that’s exclusively fouls?

Holding is a penalty that really isn’t called nearly as often as it should in the NBA, especially during the playoffs where “let them play” tends to prevail the most. In this case it wasn’t just impeding Wemby’s movement off the ball, but it became clear that the young phenom was growing increasingly frustrated by Hartenstein being on his hip all game, and that led to Wemby struggling on the offensive end.

The next game in the Western Conference Finals is going to be fascinating. Do the Thunder stick to the Hart-on-Wemby strategy? Do the refs use the Wednesday night game as a learning experience? Do we see Wembanyama manage to fight his way through the physicality without losing his cool? It’s going to be amazing to see.