Isn’t it great when your mood depends on the performance of your favorite team? It’s not a feeling I’ve experienced since abandoning fandom at school, but I empathize with those that do because the emotions and time they give a team matter. I even saw it up close with my mother recently, who has become a WNBA fan out of nowhere, and her spirits improved when her beloved Atlanta Dream got back in the win column in the Finals.
Fortunately for those who have suffered this, there are no “statements” in
an opener and the first weeks of the season are filled with weirdness with some teams taking long to get settled and some of the bad ones briefly performing above expectation. This means it might take a team like the San Antonio Spurs some time to reach sixth gear because they are getting creative with a three-guard set in the starting unit and they don’t have a high level of urgency at all times, so nobody needs to overreact to some speed bumps.
Anyways, the logistical casualty that caused us to wait three nights for the Spurs’ second game offered some time to watch the other teams and the Oklahoma City Thunder came up again in their winning effort against the Denver Nuggets on Thursday. There was a need to see if they could follow up their opening win by making another high-quality team look as ordinary as they did the Spurs, and for the most part, they did.
The Houston Rockets got checked out, too, and they looked mighty against the Dallas Mavericks. Some of the new swag was obvious when they played the Spurs because using another connector like Fred VanVleet added juice to the offense, but some of the extra intensity of the game was caused naturally by the matchup and its history. The battle for Texas supremacy is serious business and that was why the rebounding in the trenches looked like a mosh pit at times.
The team was down 10 points late in the third quarter, but never let the game get out of reach while not playing their style. As much as I am a fan of playing fast, the court was like a speedway in the third quarter, which will greatly diminish anyone’s legs, even if they have a fast set of wheels.
So, there’s no surprise some players were slow to make defensive reads in the fourth quarter- one example was Wembanyama not switching onto Kevin Durant when he made the handoff triple in the last few minutes. The priority always has to be protecting the 3-point line late in a close game and that was an easy enough switch.
The Rockets led 89 percent of the night and upstaged the Spurs, yet it was some top-notch NBA action in large part because big-man battles, when done right, are maybe the best the league has to offer from a matchup standpoint.
It’s super early in the season, but I feel ashamed for underestimating the Rockets because Durant’s length gave Stephon Castle problems and Jabari Smith Jr. was equally impactful as an off-ball defender. I’m already eager for the next matchup on Jan. 26 in San Antonio to see how the Spurs get their lick back.
Wish I could report to the fans that things will be easier for the Spurs, but it seems like they’ll only have three easier games — two against the Sacramento Kings and one versus the Chicago Bulls — in the next 18 days.
Takeaways:
- Yes, an 0-2 record is hideous, but trust me on this, things could be so much worse, like how they look for the Miami Heat. They looked a class below both the Minnesota Timberwolves and Detroit Pistons on opening week and Kaseya Center got sacked on both nights. Spurs fans would be shook up if they saw the same lack of effort and cohesion.
- Castle should keep working on his ball handling like he did this summer, but the 3-point shooting needs to come around soon. Opponents think so little of him from long range that they keep giving him those shots, and he needs to drain them to prevent his teammates from being schemed by an extra help defender. Yet if he loses his confidence shooting from deep, an adjustment that can be made is parking him in the dunker spot; he has the hops to be effective there and it would force his defender to play him closer.
- Devin Vassell and Julian Champagnie are nice shooters, but there is still a need for them to be more assertive when playing next to Harper, De’Aaron Fox and Victor Wembanyama. Obviously, there are some things to straighten out if this three-guard set is going to be permanent, but in Champagnie’s case, there should never be a world where he only takes five shots when he is ignitable like jet fuel.
- Luckily for Wembanyama, I won’t charge for this advice, but he should remember the importance of added strength training and having post moves. Going to the body is the only way the big guys can offset his length, and think about how Şengün was collapsing the defense with post ups and was scoring. Improving in the post would give Wemby more angles to pass to his teammates, and it can also be a way to leverage a turn-around jumper.
- Houston’s frontline having three scoring threats and a fourth on the glass (Tari Eason will) be problematic in future matchups with the Spurs because Wembanyama can only do so much. It’s not ideal, but the next time Houston goes huge, I’d like to see what he can do sharing the court with Luke Kornet. There are plenty of moments that Houston had three of those guys together, and one figures they wouldn’t be as effective if the counter was a two-man zone with Wembanyama up front and Kornet in the back.
- Amen Thompson’s block on Wembanyama was spectacular, and I won’t forget it all season. Thompson and his twin, Ausar, have impressive springs in their legs and there may not be anyone who gets off the ground quicker than them in the league.
