The Spurs have climbed into the top five in offensive rating, defensive rating and net rating, and that alone is enough to make the early-season numbers pop. San Antonio sits at 117.1 offensively, 108.1 defensively and +9.1 overall. The catch is simple: the schedule has been so soft since the Rockets game that it’s hard to know how much of this is proof and how much is padding.
That’s the tension hanging over the Silver and Black right now. They opened the season against OKC and Houston, then rolled through a stretch that included the Mavericks twice, the Kings twice, the Jazz twice and the Timberwolves without Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert. That’s a pretty uneven run of opponents, and it hasn’t offered much in the way of a true measuring stick.
Utah and Sacramento have two wins between them. Dallas is sitting one game over .500 at 5-4.
And Minnesota without Ant Man and the Stifle Tower is not the version of that team anyone expects to see once healthy. These are the kinds of games where a good team is supposed to handle business, not necessarily reveal its ceiling.
To San Antonio’s credit, it has mostly done exactly that. The Spurs have blown out a few of these teams, which is what you want to see when a stronger roster is supposed to separate itself. But there’s a difference between taking care of business and getting tested, and right now the Spurs still need the latter.
That’s why the next stretch matters. Portland is up next tonight, and both teams are on the second night of a back-to-back. The Trail Blazers lost a close one to the Lakers, but even that comes with a wrinkle: San Antonio’s opponent is without Ja Morant because of a hamstring strain, and the Blazers had to lean on their starters deep into a tight game 24 hours earlier.
So even if the Spurs win, the result won’t tell us much. They’d be beating a compromised team.
If they lose, it would look bad. Either way, it doesn’t give a clean read on where this group really stands.
The next game on the schedule that feels like a real barometer is Golden State next Friday. The Warriors are 6-3 and have been playing some great basketball to open the year. Before that, the Spurs get the Suns at 2-5 and the Bulls at 1-7, which means the wait for a true test is still stretching out.
Nobody’s trying to pour cold water on what San Antonio has done so far. But the forecast only gets interesting once the Spurs run into a team that can make them prove it. Until then, the numbers are encouraging, the wins are piling up, and the real question is still sitting there waiting for an answer.
In Other News...
Spurs Bench Problem Is Putting Luke Kornet Under Real Pressure
Luke Kornets first playoff run as a Spurs backup center has come with a little more heat than he saw a year ago, and not in a good way. His defensive numbers have slipped compared with last season, with opponents finding more success at the rim when he is on the floor, which matters even more for a team that leans so heavily on Victor Wembanyama to anchor the defense.
The bigger issue is what happens when Wembanyama sits. San Antonio has been trying to keep those minutes from turning into a soft spot, but Kornets struggles have put real pressure on that plan, and the Spurs do have another option in Tarris Reed Jr. Reed has barely played, yet his presence gives the staff something to consider if it wants a different look behind Wembanyama. [Read more 🡒]
Wembanyama Gave Spurs Fans A Scare In A Huge Night Against Kings
Victor Wembanyama kept doing Victor Wembanyama things in San Antonios 124-109 win over Sacramento, piling up 30 points, 14 rebounds and two blocks while extending a remarkable defensive run. With at least two blocks in each of his first nine games this season, he moved into the second-longest streak in NBA history, another reminder of how quickly he has become the center of everything the Spurs do on both ends.
The bigger concern came in the middle of the night when Wembanyama twisted his left ankle and sent a jolt through the building. He returned to the floor and helped San Antonio protect its lead, which eased the immediate worry, but it also left the Spurs and their fans waiting to see how he comes out of one of the most productive performances of his young season. [Read more 🡒]
Wembanyama Just Passed An Early Spurs Test Fans Were Watching
Victor Wembanyama has already had to answer one of the first questions that follows any young star into a new season: how will his body hold up when the games get physical? In a pair of early tests, he rolled his ankle against the Dallas Mavericks and later dealt with another ankle injury against the Sacramento Kings, but in both cases he was back on the floor quickly enough to ease some of the concern around him.
For the Spurs, that matters as much as anything else right now. Wembanyama and his teammates point to the work he puts into body care and preparation as a big reason he has been able to keep going through those moments, and it is the kind of detail San Antonio will keep watching closely as his workload grows and the season wears on. [Read more 🡒]