After a dominant performance against the Loong-Lions from China, the Spurs didn’t look ready to play at the start of the game tonight, and were really hurt by a lack of ball-handling skills with just about every guard on the team out with injuries. The starting guards were Julian Champagnie and Devin Vassell, neither of which is known for how well they perform with the ball in their hands. Miami coach Eric Spoelstra took advantage of the Spurs shortcomings and also threw a variety of junk defenses
at Victor Wembanyama to keep him off balance. Kel-El Ware played out of his mind for most of the game, but the Spurs finally pulled out of their early funk in the last three minutes of the first half with a late 12-3 run and went into the locker room with a 61-57 lead.
The Spurs played with a little more purpose to begin the second half as they stretched their lead to double digits until the Silver and Black went to their bench and the Heat rolled out a twin towers offense with Kel’El Ware and Norman Powell. The Spurs led 86-80 with a quarter to play.
Mitch had seen enough from the top players to start the fourth, and put out a Summer League squad for the rest of the contest. Even though the score was close, it felt like garbage time for both teams, except for Kel’El Ware, who was padding stats against a bunch of guys who aren’t going to ever see the court during the regular season unless the score is out of reach. The Heat finally took the lead on a Ware dunk assisted by Jakucionis. It looked like the Heat were going to win easily as they took the lead with 5 minutes left, and the Spurs were fielding a team mostly composed of Summer League players. Carter Bryant and the Spurs weren’t in on that plan, as they shut down Miami and finally stopped Kel’El Ware and scored the last 9 points of the game, winning 112-107. The win doesn’t count in the standings, but it still has to feel good for the team as they stay undefeated in the preseason at 2-0.
Observations
- My working title for this article was : San Antonio at Miami, Final Score: Spurs pass their first preseason test by defeating the Heat 1,000,000 to 1. I may have overestimated the Spurs dominance.
- Starting guards are Julian Champagnie and Devin Vassell? I doubt you’ll ever see that in a regular season game. Playing without guards is only going to happen if all of the 23 guards on the roster are injured, which is apparently the case at this point of the preseason.
- The Heat weren’t quiet the pushovers that the Loong-Lions turned out to be. The Spur started out as sloppy as they did against the Chinese team, and the Heat had the talent to take advantage and take an early five point lead. The Spurs were going to have to take this team seriously to come out with a win.
- The full-court press was pretty effective against the Spurs lack of ball handling which led to steals and easy buckets. The score was tied at 33 each at the end of the first quarter.
- The Heat started the second quarter on a 9-0 run led by Kel’El Ware’s energetic defense and clutch shotmaking. Wembanyama sometimes just cruises through a game, and maybe that’s OK for the preseason, but Ware showed how that isn’t going to work when the games start to count.
- I don’t know how Kel’El Ware isn’t considered a superstar in the league yet. I confess that I’ve only watch him play against the Spurs, but he looks like an All Star every time he faces Victor Wembanyama.
- Adam Flagler, Keldon Johnson, and Devin Vassell took over late in the first half as the Spurs went on a 13-3 run to end the half and took a 61-57 lead at the break.
- I can’t wait until Dylan Harper, Stephon Castle, and De’Aaron Fox are available again. Or at least JMac. I don’t think it’s great to have your 3 and D guys doing all of the ball handling for the team, they are not that good at running the defense or creating their own shots. [I say that, but Julian was really hitting his shots tonight.] Regardless, the Silver and Black still came out with a win tonight. It’s a process.
- Pelle Larsson is pretty talented at drawing fouls. He’s got skills. Acting skills. I honestly don’t know how he’s already getting a superstar whistle this early in his career.
- Jakucionis looks like he’s going to be a good player. He’s already making great decisions on the court, and always making the right passes right on time.
- The Spurs fielded a Summer League squad for the final quarter, and they had no answer for Kel’El Ware as he scored from all over the court.
- After a lackluster first game, David Jones-Garcia made some nice plays in extended playing time in the fourth as he kept the Silver and Black in the contest and made it look like they might be able to hold off the surging Miami squad. The Spurs show amazing heart in the final two minutes, as they somehow retook the lead as Carter Bryant finally showed up and made key plays as the Spurs stole a win by scoring the final 9 points of the game in the last three minutes. This has got to be a real disappointment for the Heat, as they had to feel like they had a win wrapped up until the Spurs stole the win from under their noses.
It’s a new season
I looked through my PTR archive, and it turns out that I’ve been writing stories for this site since March, 2014. That’s a long time, and I don’t know that I’ve really improved as a writer that much, but one thing I’ve learned is to have fun and be yourself. I think that’s probably a good tip for any sort of career where you’re expected to do creative work. I’m happy that Pounding the Rock has given me that opportunity. Some day, I’ll move onto something else, but I’m having too much fun with it to quit now.
After tonight’s game, the Spurs play at home against the Jazz on Friday, then have a home-and-home with the Indiana Pacers on Monday and Friday of next week to finish out the preseason. The regular season is just two weeks away, when the Spurs face the Mavericks in Dallas on October 22. We will get to see the top two picks in the 2025 draft face off, and that’s a matchup you don’t want to miss.
