Two nights after a disappointing loss to the cellar-dwelling Utah Jazz, the Spurs came out against a good (but tired) Sacramento Kings team that features plenty of scorers and three former Spurs in DeMar DeRozan, Doug McDermott and Trey Lyles. It seemed like it would be a tough match-up, so the Spurs would need to take care of the ball and attack the glass to keep the best rebounder in the league, Domantas Sabonis, off the offensive glass. They (almost) achieved both, especially in a dominant second half.
The Spurs were hot from three early, hitting four of their first seven (including two from Victor Wembanyama) to get up 18-15 after six minutes, but as is often the case, the offense went cold when the bench came in, and the Kings went on an 11-4 run to take a 26-22 lead after 12 minutes while the Spurs struggled with the first goal of taking care of the ball. That run extended as the Kings got the lead to nine with a three and transition dunk off a Spurs turnover to start the second quarter, prompting an angry Mitch Johnson timeout.
Then, as if Gregg Popovich was back with them, Johnson’s Popovichian move sparked a fire under his team. The Spurs responded with a 7-0 run and never looked back from there. Although they traded the lead a few more times, the Spurs were able to overcome 12 turnovers in the half (gifting the Kings 18 extra points) by hitting 11-23 from three, including 4-6 from Wemby, to take a 60-55 lead into the break off a Chris Paul buzzer-beater.
After that, the SEGABABA seemed to be catching up with the Kings, and the Spurs took advantage to quickly get lead out to 14. Although the Kings had one last push in them to get the lead down to single figures, Vassell responded with 7-0 run on his own after a quiet first half. With only three turnovers in the quarter, the Spurs were able to maintain a comfortable lead, sitting at 84-71 heading into the final frame.
The fourth quarter was more of the same, with the Spurs slowly and methodically wearing down the tired Kings. Hardly anyone outside of DeRozan and De’Aaron Fox were factors, and they never got back within single digits throughout the entire fourth quarter. Everyone who played meaningful minutes for the Spurs contributed in what turned into a 116-96 blowout win, and it was a nice bounce back performance after their disappointing showing on Saturday.
Game Notes
- Maybe all the threes Wemby is shooting are starting to pay dividends? Beyond his 34 points, 14 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 blocks, he matched his career high of 6 made threes from two nights ago, going 6-12 from beyond the arc (a few of which benefited from the shooter’s roll, which means he just has it going right now). That’s 12-21 in the last two games, which is still a lot of attempts, but it’s a much easier pill to swallow when he’s making them. Obviously, he won’t keep hitting them at this rate, and I would still like to see him work to establish an inside presence more, but it’s certainly a positive if he has finally found a rhythm from outside, and this isn’t just a two-game fluke.
- Stephon Castle continues to improve with each passing game. While his 10 points on 4-11 shooting was okay-not-great (albeit while hitting 2-5 from three), he continued to stuff the stat sheet with 4 rebounds, 6 assists, a steal and block. And his contributions extend well beyond the stat sheet. He knows where to be on defense and makes the right reads. You could even see him directing his teammates on both ends of the court, which shows a lot of maturity and confidence for a player in just his 11th NBA game.
- Speaking of who is probably mentoring Castle, aggressive Chris Paul made a return, and per usual, it lit a fire under the team. He picked his spots with 12 points on 5-8 shooting, but it makes such a huge difference when he’s looking for his own shot while still dishing out 11 assists. The Spurs don’t need him to be a huge scoring threat, just enough that the defense has to respect him instead of laying off in the passing lanes. Today’s performance was a perfect balance.
Play of the Game
There are a lot of contenders, but this was my favorite play of the night and showed the Spurs weren’t going to blow this one. From Wemby’s block to Paul’s beautiful turnaround pass back to Wemby, and over the head to Sandro Mamukelashvili (who also had a nice game off the bench), this was some Beautiful Spurs level of play.
