The Silver and Black had some impressive runs in tonight’s game, with Victor Wembanyama making some physics-defying moves that bent basketball reality into a shape that seemed impossible to comprehend. But the greatness was alternating with spells of uninspiring play and mental lapses, and the shorthanded Timberwolves kept themselves within spitting range for almost the whole game, even with Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert, and with Lamelo Ball being limited due to foul trouble. Asayo Dosunmo and Jaden
Daniels played very well for the visitors and a well-rested Ball made some key plays in the fourth quarter, until he fouled out late.
Victor Wembanyama had 43 points and was the engine of success for the Silver and Black, while De’Aaron Fox had one of his better games of the season with 22 points and 8 big rebounds, while keeping the team organized. Dylan Harper had a great night with 25 points, while Stephon Castle didn’t score a point while he struggled with a migraine, and probably should not have been out there.
Observations:
- For your Halloween enjoyment—here’s a song about a Creepy Doll.
- The Longhorns game kicked off just before the Spurs game. I think the schedulers need to be more considerate of my watching habits.
- Rudy Gobert was ruled out with a sore back, which ruined prediction in the game thread.
- Victor show up at the game in a Witcher costume, which was really cool. He does remind me a bit of Geralt. He definitely has a dark side to him.
- Lamelo Ball has happy feet but he seems to be able to cast a spell of the refs so that they can’t count his steps. Is he a warlock?
- The Wolves didn’t honor the Twilight Zone near the hoop created by Victor’s length, Kuminga and Beringer had their shots erased by Wemby. The Spurs rushed out to an 11-1 lead, but decided to get fancy the the Wolves went on an 11-0 run to taker the lead halfway through the first.
- Kornet had a putback jam in the first quarter, and got up higher than I’ve seen so far this season? Is his mini-slump over? The Spurs actually won the non-Wemby minutes, and got the lead back up to double digits, which is a good sign going forward.
- Carter Bryant finally hit a couple of three-point shots, which is what he needs to do in order to gain floor time. If Mitch can trust him to hit open shots, he’s going to get minutes.
- Finch is a master complainer, which I kind of hate, but maybe Mitch should watch him and see how he works the officials and take some hints from that.
- The Spurs led 34-28 at the end of the first quarter.
- Victor does things that don’t seem real sometimes. His pass to himself off the backboard for a slam just seemed impossible, but it really happened. His skill is so special. I don’t even regret the shady deal I made at the crossroads about the lottery a few years back. [This did not actually happen.]
- KJ drew Ball’s fourth foul early in the second quarter, which led to Lamelo hocking a loogie onto the court in front the broadcaster’s table. Due to his warlock powers, the officials did not witness this unsanitary act, and he wasn’t even given a tech for it. It’s probably just a coincidence, but the Spurs offense completely shut down right after that, and they didn’t score any points for 5 minutes, as the Wolves retook the lead.
- The Spurs went on one of their patented cold spells, and forgot how to score for most of the second quarter, and they visitors retook the lead with another extended run, 15-0 to take a 51-46 lead with Dosunmo doing a lot of the damage.
- The Spurs made a bit of a comeback in the final two minutes of the first half, and trailed 60-61 going into the locker room.
- The second half started with the Spurs taking the ball to the hoop, with the Wolves handing out shooting fouls like Halloween candy as the Silver and Black re-took the lead.
- Bones Hyland is one of those players who isn’t that good but always looks like a superstar against the Spurs. Surprisingly, he didn’t do that much tonight, just scoring 6 points and not having much impact on the outcome.
- Lyles and Hyland both committed traveling violations in the third quarter. Maybe they’re watching Ball too much in practice?
- The Spurs didn’t play a perfect third quarter, with a few too many turnovers and defensive lapses, but they played well enough to lead 93-88 with one quarter to play, with Wembanyama leading the way with 36 points through the first three.
- The TWolves somehow left Victor a free path to the hoop and he made them pay with a thunderous dunk, and before you knew it, the Spurs had a double digit lead. Guess what happened next? If you guessed that the Spurs lost focused let the opponent get back into the game, you’d be right. … So predictable, I guess.
- Lamelo Ball did his part to get the Wolves back into the game, but committed his sixth foul with 3:43 left, pretty much ending the Wolves shot at a comeback.
- Tarris Reed watch: He did not play.
For the opponent’s perspective, visit Canis Hoopus, which has some scary good writers, and an interesting community vibe.
The Spurs play the Jazz again on Monday, this time in the Frost Bank Center. The Jazz should have Lauri Markkonnen back for that game, and that’s definitely not a game that the home team can take for granted since they required overtime to beat the Jazz in Utah on Wednesday, with the young players almost pulling off one of the biggest upsets of the early season.
