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 6: Despite still missing Victor Wembanyama
and Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell and De’Aaron Fox shined while the Spurs showed off their depth in couple road wins to secure a spot in the In-Season Tournament, which included gutting out a clutch win in Portland and upsetting Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets in their own house.
Week 7: 2-1 (15-7, 5th in West)
126-119 win vs. Memphis Grizzlies
Recap: In their lone home game sandwiched between two four-game road trips, the Spurs won their second home game of the season against the Grizzlies in the same way they did the first: by exchanging blows and leads before using a big fourth quarter run and Spurs career-high of 31 points from Harrison Barnes to outlast a former thorn-in-their-side team.
114-112 win at Orlando Magic
Recap: Despite being at a severe rest disadvantage, having played the night before and arrived at Orlando at 4 in the morning (not to mention missing the league’s best paint defender against the on of the league’s best paint scoring teams), the Spurs started strong against the Magic before dramatically holding on down the stretch for the win. Fox hit some big shots but also committed key turnovers, Sochan missed potential game-sealing free throws, and Barnes gave the Magic a chance to tie things up with a bad foul, but ultimately they pulled through in the end, with Fox hitting the winning free throws and Luke Kornet providing the game-winning block on Franz Wagner.
117-130 loss at Cleveland Cavaliers
Recap: After having enough energy to survive in Orlando, the recent schedule looked like it finally caught up with the Spurs in Cleveland. With Luke Kornet added to the injury list to nurse a sore ankle that held him out earlier in the season, the Spurs had no rim protectors against a lengthy Cavs squad, and despite a good first half, they delivered a turd quarter performance where they were outscored 44-19, which Mitch Johnson chalked up to mental fatigue.
Power Rankings
John Schuhmann, NBA.com — 9 (last week: 8)
Victor Wembanyama has now missed the last 10 games, and the Spurs continue to survive (7-3) without both him and Stephon Castle (who’s missed the last nine games). It has been a tough schedule of late, with six of the Spurs’ last seven games on the road and six of the last eight against teams currently over .500.
Three takeaways
1. Luke Kornet has started in Wembanyama’s place and preserved the Spurs’ win in Orlando on Wednesday by blocking Franz Wagner at the buzzer. Opponents have shot 37-for-87 (42.5%) at the rim when Kornet has been there, the best rim protection mark among 145 players who’ve defended at least 50 shots at the rim. But he missed the Spurs’ loss in Cleveland on Friday, when the Cavs scored 62 points in the restricted area, 14 more than they’ve scored in any other game.
2. With the win in Orlando, the Spurs are 10-3 (with four straight wins) in games that were within five points in the last five minutes and have the league’s second-ranked clutch offense. De’Aaron Fox scored their last 11 points against Memphis on Tuesday after first creating the corner 3-pointer that Keldon Johnson drained to put the Spurs ahead with a little more than three minutes to go.
3. The Spurs have suffered on the glass (on both ends of the floor) without Wembanyama. They rank 24th in total rebounding percentage (48.2%) over his absence, down from fourth (53.4%) over the 12 games that he was in uniform.
Coming up: The Spurs will finish their pre-Cup schedule in New Orleans on Monday before flying to L.A. for the NBA Cup quarterfinals two nights later. One of their three clutch losses came at Crypto.com Arena in early November.
Law Murray, The Athletic — 9 (last week: 7)
First-quarter grade: B+
This is San Antonio’s best 20-game start in nine years, and that’s with center Victor Wembanyama limited to only 12 games due to a calf injury. The Spurs are top 10 in field goal percentage even though Wembanyama, De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper have yet to be available for the same game. Fox is averaging 26.7 points since the last time Wembanyama or Castle has played.
Brett Siegel, Clutch Points — 8 (last week: 7)
The San Antonio Spurs have now won seven of their last 10 games since Victor Wembanyama suffered his calf injury, and they are just a half-game behind the Rockets for fourth place in the West.
Devin Vassell has been on a heater as of late for the Spurs, scoring over 20 points in four of his last six games and shooting 45.1 percent from 3-point range during the team’s successful 10-game stretch. Along with Wemby being out, Vassell has stepped up in the absence of Stephon Castle, who has missed nine straight games with a hip flexor injury.
De’Aaron Fox has been the catalyst for the Spurs’ new-look offense without Wembanyama, as he has scored at least 25 points in nine of the Spurs’ last 10 games. Coincidentally enough, the game he only scored 15 points ended up being the 139-136 road win over the Nuggets that won the Spurs West Group C in the NBA Cup.
Coming up: Mon. 12/8 at New Orleans Pelicans; Wed. 12/10 at Los Angeles Lakers *; TBD**
* In-season Tournament Quarterfinals
** If the Spurs beat the Lakers, they will play in the semi-finals against the winner of Thunder vs. Suns on Dec. 13. If they lose, they will play the loser of Thunder vs. Suns in a consolation game on either Dec. 14 or 15.
Prediction: 2-1 — It’s hard to make an accurate prediction when we don’t know one of the opponents this week or the state of Victor Wembanyama, who has joined the team and returned to practice but won’t play tonight. The Spurs may get Stephon Castle back as soon as tonight, which should be a win against the woeful Pelicans. Beyond that, beating the Lakers in their house with more than just a regular season win on the line may be a tall task with or without Wemby, same with the Thunder (who are beating everybody) and Suns (who have had the Spurs’ number in two match-ups this season). At this point, 2-1 may feel a little risky, but the Spurs have been surprising us lately, plus both those teams have some injury issues to key players of their own. (It could technically also be 1-1 if they lose to the Lakers and get the Monday consolation game.)
