A stepback jumper by reigning Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle over Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – reminiscent of ones that the Thunder guard has done to so many others – ended any comeback hopes for the Oklahoma
City Thunder, and the San Antonio Spurs handed the titlists their third loss of the young season tonight. San Antonio weathered a white-hot start from Oklahoma City, and behind a 13-point (3-for-3 from three first quarter triples from De’Aaron Fox, followed by a dominant and quite frankly strangling two-way effort from the cohesive and charged squad the rest of the way showcased the victorious Spurs to a national audience tonight in the 117-102 road win. San Antonio shot 54% (38% from three) tonight and empathically answered every Thunder run.
De’Aaron Fox (29 points) paced a handful of Spurs players in double-digits, while Stephon Castle (19 points and 7 assists), Victor Wembanyama (19 points and 11 reboundes), and Harrison Barnes (15 points and 6 rebounds) supplied the supporting firepower. Rookie Dylan Harper (12 points) continued to dazzle, as he and his backcourt counterparts largely kept turnovers to a minimum.
Gilgeous-Alexander (22 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists) had some impressive moments at the end of each half for Oklahome City, but did not get enough boost from his heralded teammates – Chet Holmgren (10 points and 12 rebounds) and Jalen Williams (12 points and 6 assists). Isaiah Hartenstein (13 points and 12 rebounds) put up a double-double and Alex Caruso (12 points) competed admirably.
The teams traded thunderous blows over the first half of the opening stanza – putting up 45 points in six minutes. Oklahoma City spread out its firepower through its vaunted starting lineup, while Fox and Castle put up four buckets apiece in response. Despite the Thunder starting 9-for-10, a procession of Harper, Wembanyama, and Fox scores allowed San Antonio to end the first up 41-36.
San Antonio continued to add precious margin to its lead during a contentious second period. Whenever it looked like Oklahoma City could mount any serius threat, the Spurs were intent to respond with countless min-runs of their own. Castle and Fox again provided those answers Gilgeous-Alexander prevented a San Antonio runaway by his sheer foul-drawing will. After weathering the Thunder’s first real push, the Spurs went to the break up 69-60.
The offensive execution that characterized the first half died out quickly in the third quarter, and yet, San Antonio was able to add to its hard-earned advantage with better defending, hustle, and playing with some nasty in the fraught final part of the quarter. Harper and Johnson’s successive dunks made it 95-79 after three.
Observations
- We graduated from the ‘Dunk the Halls’ game!
- This is the first holiday season where the entire family is officialy Spurs fans. We finally converted the final sibling!
- The other night, while showing both the Spurs/Thunder and Nuggets/Mavericks game on at the same time, the first thing my wife notes is that “the Denver coach and the OKC coach… they have the worst haircuts in the NBA.”
- Still my favorite Roger Mason and Christmas memory.
- Mike Tirico, after the reigning Rookie of the Year drew a foul late in the first. referred to it as ‘the furious power of Stephon Castle.’
- While the 2010s Thunder owned the athleticism and physicality advantages over the Spurs, these mid-2020s Spurs – thus far, of course – have wielded the clear advantage in these last three tilts. To quote Michael Scott, “well, well, well, how the turntables…”
- It really is an enjoyable viewing experience seeing Spur-after-Spur seek out Holmgren in the paint.
- Dylan’s Driving: He went downhill and through a quartet of Thunder defenders late in the first and made the ensuing layup look comically easy. #Ginobilispirit
- Crunchtime Execution: After Barnes clutched the ball for an eternity in the fourth, he found Wembanyama at the nail, who swiftly found a cutting Castle for a two-handed slam.
- Sequence of the Game #1: After Harper spent nearly a full possession occupying most of the OKC defenders, he found Kornet deep in the paint for a dunk to start the second.
- Sequence of the Game #2: After San Antonio got a needed stop late in the opening half, Vassell came down the court and knocked down an audacious 26-footer.
- Sequence of the Game #3: In the last moments of the first half, Fox somehow avoided being gang—tackled by three defenders and willed home a manly bucket over Holmgren. (I’m really enjoying typing anything ‘over Holmgren’).
Game Rundown
The first seven Thunder shots went down, and that sums up the first handful of moments – with OKC’s main three contributing the majority of them. When they did miss their first shot, the carom found its way to Lu Dort – who hit a three. Dort’s second three in a row put them up seven, while Castle matched with two makes of his own. Fox’s second three brought San Antonio within four. Keldon Johnson’s first shot bounced a handful of times on the rim before gently falling in. While OKC continued to find success on one end, a catch-and-shoot and-1 by Wembanyama rendered it a one-possession game. Harper and Fox’s world-class bucket-getting towards the end of the frame put the Spurs back ahead by five.
At the start of the second period, OKC ran the same play that netted the Kornet lob dunk over Holmgren from Tuesday night but Isaiah Hartenstein could not complete the deal. After an Aaron Wiggins three, Wembanyama threw down a monstrous two-handed slam over Harteinstein. The referees allowed enough physical contact during a series of sequences to qualify this for a college football game before “mercifully” calling one on a Jalen Williams’ attempt. Castle’s free throws gave the Spurs their biggest lead to that point at nine. After the Spur lead went up to 14, Gilgeous-Alexander converted an and-1 in transition and hit a stepback baseline shot to bring it back to single-digits, and the teams went to the half separated by nine.
The third quarter started starkly different than the two before it, with the bigs netting three of the first four baskets collectively and the teams putting up a paltry 16 points in the first five minutes. After Castle converted a degree-of-difficulty shot over Holmgren, Jay Bilas quipped that this was the ’the emergence of a great player.” A Castle-to-Kornet lob put San Antonio back up 11. Castle strung out two OKC defenders and spoonfed Harrison Barnes for an open wing three, and Barnes’ stepthrough lay-up pushed the lead briefly back out to 17 – despite the Spurs wingmen missing more than a handful of open opportunities. Wembanyama altered a shot attempt in mid-air to find a cutting Harper baseline for a power slam. Caruso’s three brought OKC within a dozen. and like he has done so many times this season, Fox answered at the other end with a jumper. While Fox missed the next attempt, Johnson violently slammed home the errant shot and San Antonio went to the fourth up 16.
San Antonio hosts Lauri Markkanen and the Utah Jazz Saturday night at 7:00 PM CDT.
