As a Spurs fan living in Los Angeles, and a Dodger fan too, the last few weeks have been great. The Spurs have had an historically great start, even better than expected or predicted. During the same time,
the Dodgers won the World Series — capped by the best Game Seven in the history of the game. And even though the Dodgers have a huge payroll which makes them a bit harder for outsiders to root for, the individual players themselves, and their manager Dave Roberts, seem like good guys. As I have written here previously, that has always been a great part of being a Spurs fan — the Spurs organization has always been filled with good people. In a prior post, I wrote this after randomly running into Rudy Tomjanovich at a West LA driving range:
“Especially in light of everything going on in the sports world, I loved to hear Rudy T’s comments about the team we all root for. He used the words “good people”. Among all the things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, the list includes the ability to cheer on a Spurs team that is a group of good people. Not everyone can say that, but we can.”
I thought of that article while reading about the Dodgers’ star Shohei Ohtani in the Wall Street Journal, of all places. In describing why the Dodgers are likable despite their massive payroll, WSJ sportswriter Jason Gay (who even knew the WSJ had a sportswriter?) said this:
“Part of this is Ohtani, a legend in real time, who plays with joy and enthusiasm and is the exact opposite of the cold, detached superstar. Ohtani’s excitement for the game and his teammates – especially Yamamoto, whom he giddily bear-hugged in the celebration last night – does as much to lift the sport as his remarkable two-way talent.”
The great Joe Posnaski said essentially the same thing in his blog from Wednesday:
“But, I have to say, I kind of like it when there’s a team on top to loathe. And this Dodgers team is such a perfect team to loathe because, individually, they’re so darned likable. I mean, Shohei? Freddie? Yoshi? Mookie, for crying out loud? They’re delights!”
One of the Dodgers’ co-owners is Magic Johnson, who has always gone everywhere wearing a big smile. Magic had that smile glowing as he walked around the Toronto Blue Jays ballpark after Game Seven.
But the comments about the Dodgers, and Ohtani in particular, brought to mind the Spurs’ own star, Victor Wembanyama. Like Ohtani (and Mookie and the other Dodgers), Victor plays the game with Ohtani-like “joy and enthusiasm”, and like Ohtani, “is the exact opposite of the cold, detached superstar”. Even though they grew up 6,000 miles apart (flying across Asia), Shohei and Victor have similar personalities – and drive to succeed. My basketball buddy Steve asked me at last night’s game which player I would rather coach, knowing that coaching either would be a joy. (Victor).
All of this is a lead-in to the Spurs – Lakers game Wednesday night. The last time I attended a Spurs – Lakers game was March last season. That was the “make-up game” that had been postponed after the January 6 wildfires that devastated Altadena and the Pacific Palisades. My Sunday morning game is still not back in the Pali High gym, though we hope to be in January. After the Spurs blew out the Lakers in the first game in January, that second game in March did not go nearly as well. Perhaps not having Victor and new Spur De’Aaron Fox contributed to the loss, as I mournfully described at the time.
New-at-the-time Laker Luca Doncic was rounding into shape during the game last spring. Though Luca in March 2025 was nothing compared to the shape Luca got into this summer when he lost 20 pounds. As predicted, losing that weight turned into a big gain for Luca and the Lakers. Going into Wednesday’s game, Luca was averaging 41.3 points, 11.5 boards and 8.3 assists. All of which led a good friend to ask me before the game whether Luca is the best in the world at playing basketball. Not necessarily the best player in the game (that guy in Denver is), but the best at doing the stuff that makes up the game.
The Lakers were also doing well because their ‘third wheel”, Austin Reaves was averaging 31.1/5.1/9.3, which is pretty good. Unfortunately, Reaves did not play against the Spurs, so both teams were short-handed. Lebron James also continued to sit out, keeping his season averages at 0/0/0.
All of which led to this from the Pulse (on the Athletic) picking Wednesday’s Spurs vs. Lakers as the game of the night:
NBA: Spurs at Lakers
10 p.m. ET on ESPN
Wemby-powered San Antonio (5-1) heads West to meet an impressive Lakers team that’s 6-2 despite missing LeBron James for the entire year thus far and Luka Dončić for half of those games. For now, outside of Oklahoma City, this is the class of the Western Conference. Good game.
Who else loves the Spurs referred to as part of the “class of the Western Conference”? Good times are here again. Let’s see if the Spurs can remain among the elite.
I was lucky enough to be gifted tickets from another basketball buddy, Stretch 4 TD. Thanks TD! Unfortunately, Wednesday’s game did not look like a battle of the elites of the Western Conference, for either team. As early as the second quarter, I turned to Steve and described the game as “choppy”. “Disjointed” would have also fit. Not to over-rely on The Athletic, but Zach Harper wrote:
“The Lakers (7-2) won 118-116 with tons of drama at the end. But this game sucked as a viewing experience. The officiating was awful. The refs fell for the flopping of Smart all night. They fell for foul-baiting play after foul-baiting play. It was way too tightly called, as the Spurs (5-2) shot 40 free throws and the Lakers shot 44 in a regulation game — 66 fouls were called! Officials, let both of these teams play basketball and let go of the game flow.”
While I agree with Zach about the game lacking “flow”, from my seat I saw three things that contributed to the lack of “flow” on top of the excess number of fouls (and lengthy video reviews).
First, looking at the team benches, I saw LeBron, Reaves, Fox, Dylan Harper and Luke Kornet in street clothes. And even though Jeremy Sochan made his long-awaited debut for the Spurs, and did well, it is hard to incorporate anyone into the flow of the game who has been out for weeks – especially someone like Sochan with his odd skill set. The absence of guards Fox and Harper, in particular, forced the Spurs to give meaningful minutes to two-way or marginal guys like Lindy Waters III and Jordan McLaughlin. The absence of Kornet, and Victor’s foul trouble, forced the Spurs to either play Kelly Olynyk or use strange line-ups with Keldon Johnson as “center”.
Second, turnovers. Coaches absolutely hate turnovers – and there were many to hate in this game. While the Lakers had only 12, most seemed to lead directly to breakaway baskets for the Spurs – most were simply dreadful passes. Similarly, the Spurs had many inexcusable passes, or Victor’s two offensive fouls plowing though Marcus Smart. If I were coaching Victor, when he is covered by a much smaller player, I would have him inside pivot with the ball high, without using up the dribble, face the basket, and simply shoot the 10-footer. (Picture the Great Duncan banking the ball from the wing.) What could Smart or similarly sized player do to contest that shot? And if the other team runs additional defenders at him, Victor will be facing the hoop. He can see the entire floor and deliver the ball to the right person. Simple, right?
Third, I don’t know how Wednesday’s game looked on television, but in person the Spurs’ offense was remarkably stagnant. (Of course, the Lakers’ offense largely involved Luca dribbling around, coming off several ball screens, and then dribbling some more.) The Spurs would set up with Victor and another player (often Devon Vassel) on the two elbows, Vassel would flare to the opposite wing, the ball would either go to Vassel on the wing or Victor “posting up” on the elbow – and then everyone would stand around. This is a far cry from the player and ball movement of the Beautiful Game Spurs we all loved. How do we return to that? As a start, let’s move the players around, and the ball too. Pop’s rule was do something with the ball within .5 second. Let’s do that! Simple, right?
One other problem with all the fouls – the Spurs lost three key guys who fouled out in the fourth quarter – Victor, Sochan and Castle. The loss of Victor was especially painful. Oddly, even though many of the fans were at the game to see Victor Wembanyama play basketball, they cheered wildly when he fouled out. Even Mookie Betts, sitting five rows in front of me, was shown on the Jumbotron giving the signal for offensive foul. That would be like going to a World Series game and seeing the other team intentionally walk Shohei Ohtani FOUR straight times. Checking notes… the Blue Jays did exactly that in Game Three. The Baseball Gods reacted by giving Freddie Freeman a hanging slider in the 18th inning for a walk-off home run just before midnight. Which eventually led to something special at halftime of the game. With the final score going the wrong way for this Spurs fan, this was the highlight of the evening and an unexpected surprise for this Dodgers fan:
