The Spurs knew the 76ers would be shorthanded coming into last night’s game in Philadelphia, with Joel Embiid out with an oblique strain and Paul George serving 25-game suspension for violating the league’s drug policy. What they didn’t know was just how quickly and badly they would overwhelm a squad that still had All-Star Tyrese Maxey and rookie star VJ Edgecombe. (If NBC had known this would be the case two weeks in advance, they probably would have picked Pistons vs. Cavs over this game for their
Throwback broadcast.)
It was just one of those nights where everything was clicking on all cylinders for the Spurs while nothing was for their opponent, and the result was them getting out to as much as a 49-point lead. For a while there, it looked like they might break their record for largest margin of victory on the road (as well as the 76ers’ worst loss at home) before the third string got outscored by nine in a garbage time fourth quarter, making it “only” a 40-point victory.
Perhaps not so coincidently, the margin-of-victory record they could have beaten came in Philadelphia just over 10 years ago, when Tim Duncan was in his final season and the Spurs were just beginning a new (but what would turn out to be too brief) era led by Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge. Even though Duncan, Leonard and Manu Ginobili didn’t play in that game, it was the beatdown of all beatdowns, with the Spurs obliterating the “Trust the Process” 76ers 119-68: a 51-point victory that remains intact in their record books after they couldn’t beat it last night.
While that may just seem like a distant memory at this point and irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, it’s one that will live on forever in our hearts because of one person. That’s right, this was “The Boban Marjanovic Game”, when the Serbian giant got extended playing time for the first time in his NBA career. He had already gotten some attention a month prior, when “tough guy” Tyler Hansbrough’s terrified reaction to him when viral, but now people really got to see him in action, and it was a joy to watch.
Dunks, jumpers, floaters, fadeaways — no one had seen such a huge human make shots like this, and they wouldn’t again until, well, Wemby. By the time the game was over, boban had 18 points on 8-10 shooting, 4 rebounds and 2 steals. It was such a spectacle that 76ers fans stayed in their seats until the end — rare for home fans on the wrong end of a blowout — and were even cheering every Boban basket like he was their own player.
Last night’s game was fun, but there was no breakout performance or anything memorable about it, and it will soon be forgotten as a small part of the Spurs’ resurgent season. The same can’t be said for what happened in Philly on December 7, 2015, so sit back, relax, and relive one of the most fun Spurs memories in modern history.
