Welcome to the Week in Review: a Monday feature that looks back at the week that was for the San Antonio Spurs, takes a look at the week ahead, and more. Enjoy!
Week 8: After an ugly win in New Orleans that saw them blow a 25-point lead but recover, the Spurs headed into the Cup playoffs, beginning with a surprisingly comfortable win over the fully healthy Lakers in their own house. The Spurs then headed to Vegas for the Semifinals, and Victor Wembaynama made his triumphant return from a calf injury
by single-handedly keeping the Spurs in the game in the first half, then coming up big in the clutch to help lead his team to another shocking victory over the defending champion Thunder.
Week 9: 3-1* (21-7, 2rd in West)
113-124 loss vs. New York Knicks
* NBA Cup Finals — does NOT count towards the regular season
Recap: For 34 minutes, it looked like the Spurs were on their way to wining the Cup with solid offense and doing just enough to keep the Knicks at arm’s length on defense. Unfortunately, things fell apart late in the third quarter, and the Spurs completely collapsed as the Knicks ran away with the victory. Also putting some things in perspective, an emotional Wemby revealed after the game his grandmother had passed away earlier in the day, which explained a somewhat off and subdued game from him.
119-94 win vs. Washington Wizards
Recap: The Spurs avoided the trap game in a rare return home after the draining emotions of the NBA Cup. After a somewhat slow first half in which they were wining but seemingly going through the motions, they took it to the worst team in the league in the second, led by a career night from Dylan Harper, allowing the main rotation to rest with another east coast game to follow the next night.
126-98 win at Atlanta Hawks
Recap: Right back out on the road as the Spurs brutal December travel schedule continued, the Spurs blew out the equally tired Hawks with a wire-to-wire blowout, riding their two Georgia-born guards in Stephon Castle and Devin Vassell, as well as another big performance from Victor Wembanyama off the bench to sweep the season series against the team who’s first round pick they have the right to swap.
124-113 win at Washington Wizards
Recap: Facing the worst team in the league for the second time in three games, the Spurs once again were a bit passive to start the game but used a massive second quarter to put enough distance between them and the depleted Wizards that even a passive second half couldn’t do them in.
What we learned (coming soon)
Power Rankings
John Schuhmann, NBA.com — 5 (last week: 6)
OffRtg: 118.2 (6) DefRtg: 112.2 (5) NetRtg: +6.1 (7) Pace: 101.1 (16)
The Spurs came up short in the Emirates NBA Cup final on Tuesday, but they’ve won their last six games that count toward the regular-season standings. They’re second in the West and one of three teams that rank in the top six on both ends of the floor.
Three takeaways
1. The Spurs hadn’t played De’Aaron Fox, Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle together through the first three games that all three were available. But when the Cup final went to clutch time, it was those three plus Devin Vassell and Victor Wembanyama who were on the floor together. That group couldn’t get the job done (it was outscored, 14-8, in the final 4:09) against the Knicks, but it could be the lineup that the Spurs call on in big moments going forward.
2. There were no big moments over their next three games, with the Spurs leading all three by at least 24 points. They had everybody available for both games of their Thursday-Friday back-to-back, and they were their two biggest wins (combined margin of 53 points) since opening night in Dallas.
3. Wembanyama has been back for just four games (that count), and he’s played just 81 minutes (all off the bench) in those four games. But that’s all it’s taken for the Spurs to climb from 16th (before his return) to fifth in points allowed per 100 possessions. They’ve allowed just 88.3 per 100 in those 81 minutes with him on the floor, with the context being that 39 of the 81 came against the Wizards.
Coming up: The Spurs and Thunder are playing five times this season because they met in the NBA Cup semifinals. All five meetings are in the span of six weeks (Dec. 13 to Feb. 4), and the second and third are this week as the Spurs are in Oklahoma City on Christmas. Wembanyama had 42 points, 18 rebounds and four blocks in his Christmas debut, a three-point loss in New York last year.
Law Murray, The Athletic — 5 (last week: 6)
The Big Question, revisited: Have the Spurs figured out how to play when Victor Wembanyama is off the floor?
How dare this question be asked about the almighty Wemby and his horsemen? In the first 12 games when Wembanyama was still a starter, the Spurs were outscored by only 11 points when Wembanyama was off the floor. While Wembanyama was out for a month, the Spurs leveled up and outscored opponents by 38 points. And since Wembanyama came back, the Spurs have been outscored by only three points. This, of course, doesn’t include the NBA Cup championship, because that game doesn’t count in the standings and is therefore not pure and ethical basketball.
Brett Siegel, Clutch Points — 3 (last week: 4)
All eyes were on how the Spurs would respond to their loss in the NBA Cup championship game. Despite playing two of their three games this past week against the Washington Wizards, the Spurs delivered in a big way, winning all three of their games by a combined 64 points.
Offensively, San Antonio has scored at least 119 points in five of their last seven games, including their matchup with the Knicks in Las Vegas, and Mitch Johnson’s team has seemed to figure things out offensively when Victor Wembanyama isn’t in the game.
This team is obviously better with Wembanyama, but when he’s not available, all three of De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, and Devin Vassell have looked very comfortable leading this team. The Spurs have a deep roster with young talents who are still growing and have yet to put together their best performances this season. It is not hard to look at the Spurs and see a real contender.
Coming up: Tues. 12/23 vs. Oklahoma City Thunder; Thurs. 12/25 at Oklahoma City Thunder; Sat. 12/17 vs. Utah Jazz
Prediction: 2-1 — It’s always hard to expect a sweep in a mini-series, especially against the defending champions, who will also be out for revenge from the Cup, no less. Still, I think the Spurs at least take the home game. (I also believe that is when Wemby will make his return to the starting unit, throwing a curve ball at the Thunder for the second time in a row.) I also have no reason to believe they’ll blow it to the Jazz when the finally return home for consecutive games for the first time since November 18/20.
