In his young career, Chet Holmgren has gotten quite familiar with the intense physicality of the playoffs. As the OKC Thunder began their Western Conference Finals series against the San Antonio Spurs, eagle-eyed fans noted a subtle trick that Holmgren employed against the most dominant big man in the arena.
A viral clip shows Holmgren stepping on the foot of Victor Wembanyama as they jockeyed for rebounding position off a free throw sequence. The bonus shot went in anyways, but Wembanyama’s sneaker bore the brunt of the Thunder center’s foot.
Reacting to this clip, fans criticized Chet Holmgren for going too far in his matchup with Victor Wembanyama.
“f*** you dirty ass @ChetHolmgren you should be ashame of yourself”
“In my book, it just goes to show that Chet knows he’s no match for Wemby”
“What a pathetic piece of s*** Chet is”
“Honestly, that could’ve ended in a bad injury.”
“A beaten cheat. He could break his ankle.”
“What in the ‘dislocate his toes’ is going on”
Despite Holmgren’s tactics, Wembanyama still finished the game with a whopping 24 rebounds, including nine on the offensive glass. In 48 minutes of action, the MVP finalist torched the Thunder with 41 points on 56.0% shooting from the field.
Meanwhile, Holmgren turned in a subpar stat line of eight points on 2-for-7 FG shooting. This is a far cry from the stellar performances that the first-time All-Star has turned in this postseason, and he will certainly have to be more prolific in Game 2.
“Chet Holmgren, What’s Up?”: Stephen A. Smith Calls Out Thunder Center After Game 1 Loss
It did not take long for pundits to call out Chet Holmgren for his underwhelming performance in Game 1. On “First Take,” Stephen A. Smith panned Holmgren for a perceived lack of heart.
“Chet Holmgren, what’s up? We heard all this noise all these years that y’all don’t like each other….Chet Holmgren, you have to want this!”
Smith added that Holmgren can’t leave it up to players like Jalen Williams and Alex Caruso to mitigate Wembanyama’s dominance in this series.
