Welcome to Week in Review: a Monday feature that looks back at the week that was for the San Antonio Spurs, takes a look at the week ahead, and more. Enjoy!
Week 22: The Spurs saw it all in another undefeated week, from tight wins against potential first-round opponents in the Clippers and Suns, to blowout yawners against two of the worst teams in the league (the Kings and Pacers). The win over the Suns at home was especially notable since it featured Victor Wembanyama’s first ever NBA game-winner
as he hit a jumper with under a second left to officially secure the Spurs’ first playoff berth since 2019.
Week 23: 3-0 (56-18, 2nd in West)
After talking the talk, especially with regards to defense, Bam Adebayo and Co. couldn’t walk the walk against the surging Spurs. While still at least play-in bound, the slumping Heat stuck to their physical, transition/pace-dictated style of play and were able to hang around for a quarter, but it didn’t take long for the Spurs to insert their will and turn what could have been a fun game into another laugher on national TV streaming. The Heat had no answer for Wemby on either side of the ball and couldn’t hit enough jumpers to keep up with the Spurs’ red-hot shooting against their zone defense. (The win also secured the Spurs’ first Southwest Division title since 2017 and 23rd overall, not that it matters since it has zero impact on seeding these days.)
123-98 win at Memphis Grizzlies
The Spurs seem officially done taking inferior teams lightly, as the blew out a short-handed Grizzlies squad that has always found ways to be a thorn in their side over the years. The Spurs got a little complacent on offense in the second quarter after dominating the first, but they got the memo after halftime and ended things with a 41-20 third quarter in a game that will mostly be remembered for a massive amount of posterization dunks.
Usually this is an exciting matchup between Wemby and Giannis Antetokounmpo, but with the latter (plus many other main rotation Bucks) out and the former not having his finest game on offense, there wasn’t much excitement in this one. Instead, the Spurs rode their depth and another triple-double from Stephon Castle to methodically put away another shorthanded team, although to the remaining Bucks’ credit, they played a physical game and made the Spurs work for it. The win technically gave the Spurs their third winning streak of eight games or longer this season (reminder: the Cup Finals loss doesn’t count). It also made them the first team in NBA history with win four road games in a row by 25+ or more points, going back to their win in Sacramento.
Power Rankings
John Schuhmann, NBA.com — 2 (last week: 2)
OffRtg: 118.4 (4) DefRtg: 110.1 (3) NetRtg: +8.3 (2) Pace: 100.8 (12)
With the league’s longest active winning streak (eight games), the Spurs are keeping the pressure on the Thunder, who they trail by just two games in the loss column.
Three takeaways
1. Victor Wembanyama had three steals and seven blocks (in less than 27 minutes) in the Spurs’ win in Memphis on Wednesday, giving him 11 games of at least 10 steals + blocks over his three seasons in the league. The rest of the league has just five such games over those three years, with no other player having more than one.
2. Wembanyama being healthier this season is one reason why the Spurs have been the league’s most improved defensive team by a wide margin, allowing 6.2 fewer points per 100 possessions than in 2024-25. However, he’s still only played about 200 more minutes (1,725) than he did in 2024-25 (1,527), and the Spurs have been much better defensively in both his minutes on the floor (102.9 vs. 110.0 allowed per 100) versus his minutes off the floor (113.8 vs. 118.2 allowed per 100).
3. The Spurs are the only team that ranks in the top five in both opponent field goal percentage in the paint (54.4%, fourth) and opponent free throw rate (23.0 attempts per 100 shots from the field, first). Their win on Saturday was the first time in more than five years that a team (the Bucks) attempted fewer than 25 shots in the paint (they were 14-for-24) and fewer than 10 free throws (5-for-6).Coming up: With the Spurs set to finish first or second in the West, a first-round series with the eighth-place Clippers is a distinct possibility. The Spurs have won both of the first two meetings (both in March) by exactly four points, and the final meeting will be in LA on Thursday, the second half of the Spurs’ final back-to-back.
Law Murray, The Athletic — 1 (last week: 2)
Frontier Award: Julian Champagnie
Center Victor Wembanyama already made his case for MVP, and presumably Defensive Player of the Year and supreme alien leader. But he did not advocate for the Power Rankings Frontier Award. That is going to Champagnie this season, who went from undrafted in 2022 and waived by the Philadelphia 76ers in 2023 to a fixture in San Antonio’s starting lineup since the turn of the new year. Champagnie has been durable and consistent, playing in every Spurs game this season and hitting 38.3 percent of his 3s. Along the way, the Spurs have continued to steamroll the league, winning 24 of 26 games since the beginning of February.
Brett Siegel, Clutch Points — 1 (last week: 2)
The Spurs have moved back into the top spot of the NBA power rankings with two weeks remaining in the season by picking up three wins with a point differential of +82. There is no word to describe the Spurs right now other than dominant.
This team only has two losses since the start of February, and San Antonio’s third-ranked defense continues to improve. Three road games in four days against Golden State, LA, and Denver will be a small test for this group, but their hopes of catching the Thunder and claiming the 1-seed are still very much alive.
Coming up: Mon. 3/30 vs. Chicago Bulls (29-45); Wed. 4/1 at Golden State Warriors (36-39); Thurs. 4/2 at Los Angeles Clippers (39-36); Sat. 4/4 at Denver Nuggets (48-28)
Prediction: 4-0 — 3-1 would be a much safer prediction here (and it might have been 2-2 if this were January), but the Spurs have been on such a roll lately that I can’t bring myself to doubt them. They should at least start 2-0 against a shorthanded Bulls team at home and a Warriors squad on the road that reportedly still won’t have Steph Curry back, but then things get tougher. The Spurs continue their final road trip of the regular season with their third and final match-up against another potential first round opponent that should have Kawhi Leonard again, followed by a trip to Denver, who are starting to find their groove and will be fighting for seeding. This game should also feature the first Wemby-Joker match-up of the season.
