Before the season and even into the first few games, critics have questioned the San Antonio Spurs’ four-guard starting lineup. However, through 9 games, that lineup has a +25.4 net rating in 95 minutes and has led the Spurs to a 7-2 start. The bench lineups, especially those without Victor Wembanyama, have caused the team issues. That was never more apparent than in San Antonio’s 124-109 thrashing of the Sacramento Kings on Friday night.
Let’s be honest about the Kings for a moment. They are a bad
basketball team, perhaps not in talent, but in discipline and execution. They lose people on defense and take errant shots on offense. Yet, multiple times on Friday, they gained back ground with most of San Antonio’s starters off the floor.
Most of San Antonio’s mistakes come from defense, where too often players, especially on the wings, overhelp on a drive or watch the ball, letting the offensive player get an open three or cut to the rim and score over the top of Luke Kornet. San Antonio’s defensive lapses were a big reason the Kings shot 49% from the field and hit 46% from three. That second unit’s defensive issues don’t flip the game against the worst in the league, but against a legitimate, deep team, it could lead to a loss.
The Spurs will take a 15-point win on the road in their first NBA Cup game. But it’s hard to come out of that game feeling overly confident about the performance. San Antonio has won seven games in a row, but over half of those have come against teams under .500. A real test awaits them on Saturday in the red-hot Portland Trail Blazers. The Spurs’ second unit will need to step up its defensive play if they want to compete with another Western Conference leader.
Takeaways:
- Devin Vassell is one of the most important players on the Spurs. Vassell is shooting 34.1% from three this season, well below his usual average, which has hurt San Antonio’s offense. When he’s hitting shots, like he did against Sacramento, the offense opens up a ton for the guards and Wembanyama to dominate the paint. Vassell had 19 points, hitting 5 of his 6 threes on Friday. His off-ball defense was solid, too. He did about all you can ask from a glue guy in the starting lineup. San Antonio will need more performances like these moving forward.
- The Kings ran one of the weakest zones I’ve seen this season, and it led to a big run from the Spurs in the first half. That said, it made me realize that San Antonio is basically built to bust zone defenses. One, Wembanyama is kind of the ultimate cheat code to beat a zone. He can stretch it out on the perimeter or punish smaller players who get caught helping around the basket in the zone. Then, the Spurs have dynamic playmaking guards who are big and physical and can operate in the middle of the zone, a common weak spot in many zone defenses. Add in a couple of knockdown shooters like Vassell and Champagnie, and it becomes nearly impossible to run zone against San Antonio. The Kings tried, and failed to do so on Friday.
- Stephon Castle had a rough defensive night, but made up for it with some of the best playmaking we’ve seen from him this season. He had 19 points, 7 assists, and 1 turnover in the win. One of those assists came on a beautiful inverted pick-and-roll with Wembanyama as the ball handler and Castle as the screener. Castle caught the ball on the short roll, did a 180-degree turn, and fired the ball to a wide-open Vassell for three. It was as close to the Beautiful Game Spurs as San Antonio got on Friday.
- Harrison Barnes has earned his spot in the rotation lately, and one could argue he should be getting more minutes than some other bench forward on the roster. He had 13 points on 4-for-7 shooting on Friday against his former team. Offensively, he’s a savvy connective player who can take advantage of a defense that is out of position after one of the Spurs’ guards creates an advantage. He looks more like the Barnes we saw in his first season with San Antonio, rather than last year. He has essentially replaced Carter Bryant in the rotation, and it doesn’t look like he will be giving up that spot any time soon with how he is playing.
- I’m interested to see how this team will look once Tobias Harris comes back (hopefully this month?). They desperately need another shot creator and capable defender in that second unit. I know a lot of people want to see him replace Vassell in the starting lineup, but it seems like he could provide even more value as one of the first subs in the game, then playing for a prolonged stretch alongside Kornet and one or two of the guards. The Spurs’ top free-agent acquisition should give them more of the versatility many thought the team would have going into the season.
