Last night was the NBA Cup game where the Spurs surprised many by earning an appearance after beating the current Western Conference juggernaut, the Oklahoma City Thunder. Also the New York Knicks were there. Through three quarters it looked like the Spurs might actually shock the world and pull it off. But by the end the wheels were already coming off. We stumbled in the fourth and that was enough for the Knicks to run off with it. While, of course, I would have preferred the Spurs to come away with the Cup, I’m not terribly distraught by the outcome.
Wembanyama was troubled by the news of his grandmother’s passing just before the game. He’s a kid. It’s not unreasonable for him to be off his game after that loss. What I’ll say, though, is that you wouldn’t know it based on the first 30 minutes of play. Especially in the third quarter, our typical bugaboo. Nailing threes, flushing lobs, reaching for blocks. In the fourth, he was off his game. Uncharacteristically out of position for rebounds — quite bizarre. In real time, it seemed like it was simply the moment. For which Wembanyama was neither alone nor at the top of the list.
The biggest surprise for me was Harrison Barnes. His no-show in these last two Cup games stood out after being Mr. Reliable through the first two months of the season. If shots don’t fall, shots don’t fall. I can’t find much fault coming out of last night’s game. Apart from Barnes, the team is very young and inexperienced. De’Aaron Fox played in a handful of games for the Kings and Keldon Johnson played in a Play-In game I think? (He also played in the Olympics…at the end of the bench.) That’s our big game experience outside of Saturday’s game against the Thunder.
Fox and Harper both played like studs. Castle played amazing defense and forceful offense when needed. Coach Mitch Johnson stuck to Wembanyama’s minute restriction, which as unpopular as it may be right now, was the right call. The finish line doesn’t happen in December. Even in the fourth, where we couldn’t secure the ball, it was a two-possession game until the closing seconds. Considering where we were even a year ago, it shows we are ahead of schedule. These aren’t the 2006 Spurs (or even the 2010 Spurs) where the expectations are nothing short of the ceiling. Our expectation going into the season was hopefully the Playoffs. Here we are, playing a game that matters already.
For a young team like the Spurs, the NBA Cup is a gift. December used to be a desert to withstand, with the exception of the Christmas games, and even then those rarely matter. We got real experience in a Playoff atmosphere, felt the adversity, withstood the pain of losing a meaningful game — and get to do it in preparation for the actual Playoffs. The rest of the schedule for December looks like a rough road. We get to see how they respond.