Photo By - Reuters Connect. Victor Wembanyama scored 35 points in fewer than 33 minutes in Game 1 against the Trail Blazers on Sunday.
Learn to spell his name. Learn to pronounce his name. Learn to enjoy the absurdities that come when Victor Wembanyama is on the court. They will likely define the next few weeks of the NBA playoffs, to the San Antonio Spurs’ great delight and the Portland Trail Blazers’ great misery.
Victor Wembanyama may not go 5-for-6 from beyond the arc again, but even by missing a few 3-pointers, he would likely increase his own playing time. Yes, the San Antonio Spurs superstar scored 35 points in fewer than 33 minutes in Game 1. His own dominance lessened the need for more action.
Wembanyama has scored at least 34 points in five of his last six games, clearing 40 in three of those. He has been in a dominant form for a bit now, something that should worry not only the Portland Trail Blazers but also everyone in the NBA.
The Trail Blazers' concern stems largely from an inability to defend Wembanyama. Second-year center Donovan Clingan is actually an imposing defensive presence, but he has neither the quickness nor the agility to keep up with Wembanyama away from the rim.
Portland needs to trim Clingan’s minutes and try a different approach. That approach will still be unlikely to work, but some adjustment is a must.
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Douglas Farmer spends his days thinking about college football and his nights thinking about the NBA. His betting habits and coverage follow that same pattern. He covered Notre Dame football for various outlets from 2008 to 2024, most notably spending eight seasons as NBC Sports’ beat writer on the Irish. That was also when his gambling focus took off. Knowing there were veteran beat writers with three decades more experience than he had, Douglas found his niche by best recognizing Notre Dame’s standing in each year’s national landscape, a complex tapestry most easily understood and remembered via betting odds.
In 2021, that interest created a freelance opportunity with Covers, a role that eventually led to Douglas joining the company full-time in 2023. In the fall, Douglas will place five or six dozen bets each week, a disproportionate amount via BetRivers because the operator tends to have lines slightly different than the rest of the market. The same can be said of Circa Sports’ futures markets.
While Douglas is an avid NBA fan and covers the league throughout the year, the vast majority of his bets are on college football, because that is the biggest key to sports betting: Know what you do not know.
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