After upsetting the Oklahoma City Thunder three times in quick succession, the San Antonio Spurs now find themselves back in reality. First, they lost to the tanking Utah Jazz; now they’ve lost to the struggling
Cleveland Cavaliers. On the one hand, this may have come as a surprise. On the other, the history of team sports offers many examples of young teams that learned how to shock powerhouses long before they learned how to manage the ordinary.
A recent example can be found in German Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen under Xabi Alonso. Nicknamed “Vizekusen” for finishing second three times in four years in the late nineties — and later finishing runner-up in the Bundesliga, the DFB-Pokal, and the Champions League in 2001–02 — the club never quite got over the hump, despite regularly finishing in the top four. Then came Xabi Alonso, appointed manager in October 2022.
Alonso’s Leverkusen announced themselves with statement performances against elite opponents, most notably their emphatic Bundesliga win over Bayern Munich in March 2023 and dominant displays against Borussia Dortmund. In those matches, Leverkusen thrived on tempo, positional courage, and collective belief. But they faltered elsewhere: in draws and narrow setbacks against lower-table sides that defended deep. Leverkusen were already good enough to beat the best, but not yet mature enough to make excellence routine — which they finally did one year later, winning their first-ever Bundesliga title.
A similar pattern once defined the Oklahoma City Thunder during the early Russell Westbrook era. As a young, explosive team, Oklahoma City regularly rose to the level of elite competition — upsetting established contenders like the Spurs and the Lakers in regular-season games and playoff series alike. Yet those same teams were also prone to baffling losses against lottery-bound opponents during long regular-season stretches. They could summon ferocity when the stage was big, but struggled when the challenge felt routine — and unlike Vizekusen, OKC never got over the hump in the Westbrook era.
Opinions may differ as to why that was the case, but I would argue they bet on the wrong point guard, kept Harden on the bench for three years, and ultimately had to trade him away. Now, I’m not a Harden fan — never have been — but he sure as hell turned out to be a better baller than Westbrook. The Spurs must avoid a similar mistake with Dylan Harper at all costs. They must not keep him on the bench long-term (there’s only one Manu Ginóbili). He’s already too good. And last night’s game showed the problems a Fox/Castle backcourt might run into.
Takeaways
- It’s close to impossible to win a game in today’s NBA when a team combines for 7 made threes on 31 attempts. That’s less than 0.7 points per shot attempt — offensively disastrous, even when accounting for pace and spacing.
- Barnes’ and Vassell’s primary offensive duty is making shots. When both are cold, the Spurs’ margin for error becomes much slimmer. Castle, at this stage, cannot be relied upon from deep, and Fox — though he started the season hot — may very well regress to the mean. He’ll probably have to stabilize his shot, too, because he may no longer be the downhill threat he once was (the cuts are good, but where are the drives?).
- Unfortunately, Fox occasionally continues to make poor decisions for a seasoned veteran. Finishing the very first possession with a heat-check three early in the shot clock is something I’m willing to accept from proven deadeyes — but that’s not what he is. Another example: around the eight-minute mark of the third quarter, a rare pick-and-roll between Fox and Wemby ended with Fox passing to an open Castle on the perimeter instead of lobbing it to Wemby. Why pass to a poor shooter rather than lob it to a guy who can hardly miss around the rim? Dubious.
- Castle continues to make highlight plays, and his physicality is a highlight in itself. But highlight plays go hand in hand with turnovers, and sooner or later he has to learn how to cut those down — and hit some shots from deep. There is time, though. And despite his offensive inefficiencies, the Spurs need him as a point-of-attack defender.
- Castle might be the Spur I’m most emotionally attached to, but I want to see Dylan Harper start games next season. Even though he didn’t have his very best game last night, he — along with Wemby and Kornet — was probably one of the only Spurs not to disappoint. Castle made clear who the best driver on the roster is as soon as he entered the game midway through the first quarter, and he more or less kept the Spurs’ heart beating in an atrocious final quarter. Seventeen minutes for that guy? Sorry — that just isn’t enough.
All in all, it was an awful game, with the team that performed less poorly winning it. But hey, there is something to cheer about: the Hawks are entering the new year as a lottery team.
