The San Antonio Spurs kept rolling Friday night, running past the Sacramento Kings 124-109 to open NBA Cup group play with their seventh straight win. Victor Wembanyama was once again the headliner, but this one had plenty of support around him as San Antonio lit it up from deep and kept the ball moving all night.
Wembanyama finished with 30 points and 14 rebounds, and the Spurs got 19 points apiece from Dylan Harper, Devin Vassell and Stephon Castle. San Antonio shot 50% from 3-point range and piled up 28 assists on 38 made baskets, while Sacramento struggled to keep things clean on defense and sent the Spurs to the line 42 times.
The big man’s finish package keeps getting louder by the game. Putbacks, lobs and rim runs were all over the place, and he looked nearly impossible to stop once he got going downhill.
At the same time, he also gave the Kings reason to worry from the perimeter. This game matched a season-high with four made 3s for Wembanyama, and he looked comfortable on several open looks from outside.
He’s not going to live only in the paint, and the Spurs clearly aren’t asking him to.
Stephon Castle was another major piece of the win, especially in the way San Antonio is using him now. With the Spurs starting three guards, Castle has had to adjust to more off-ball work, and Mitch Johnson is finding ways to make that useful. One of the cleaner answers has been using Castle as a screener, where his size and strength give him options as a roller or a short-roll playmaker.
That showed up on a sequence where Castle set up to hand the ball off to Wembanyama beyond the arc. Domontas Sabonis tried to jump over the screen, Wembanyama slipped the other way, and Castle kept the play alive. After his defender switched onto Wembanyama, Castle dove to the rim and then, with the help defense rotating, caught the lob and spun midair to whip the ball to Devin Vassell for a 3.
In the second half, Castle got another chance to attack the basket in a similar kind of action. Wembanyama caught the ball at the elbow, Castle came downhill, and instead of forcing the handoff, Wembanyama kept it for a dribble before tossing up a lob that Castle hammered home with force.
Vassell, meanwhile, finally got the kind of shooting night San Antonio has been waiting for. He entered the game shooting just 25% from 3, but he caught fire and went 5-for-6 from beyond the arc. His best make came on a broken possession when he had to launch from deep and still buried it.
Afterward, Mitch Johnson pointed to the way the Spurs are trying to find him and Julian Champagnie in rhythm.
"He's had a couple of games this year where he's just missed shots, in terms of like, good shots for us and great shots for him," Mitch Johnson said after the game. "We want him to shoot that twice as many times. I think we've also done a better job of finding him and Julian [Champagnie} in rhythm."
Johnson also summed up the bigger picture for a team that keeps looking more connected by the night.
"I think the best version of our team is when we're firing on all cylinders and we're playing fast and together," Johnson said. "We have a lot of guys that can create for themselves or teammates and finish plays, and when we're doing that we can be pretty tough to stop."
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 🡒]