With only five wins, coming up with the San Antonio Spurs' best game of the season shouldn't prove tough at all. And it may not be. However, it might not be one of their five victories either.
In a 125-121 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks last week, the Spurs — to borrow a phrase from an '80s pop culture classic — may have found what they're looking for.
What they've been waiting for
While falling short to the Bucks on Thursday, the Silver and Black raised their game to levels not really seen this season. Devin Vasell approached his career high with 34 points. Victor Wembanyama poured in 27 of his own while trading several buckets with Giannis Antetokounmpo. Keldon Johnson added 14 off the bench. With nine points, eight rebounds and five assists, Jeremy Sochan showed versatility while playing forward and not point guard. Those duties went to Tre Jones, who put in 18 points while dishing out a team-high six assists.
“[It] was a satisfying point to me. We really had a rhythm at some points. Just the fact that we could compete with a championship-level team like this is promising,” Wemby said. “It's also the first thing Pop told us coming back to the locker room. We had some moments where everything seemed to work out. I could also feel the crowd believing in us and getting going.”
Their best game of the season?
The Spurs' five wins have come — in order — against the Houston Rockets in overtime 126-122 on October 27; at the Phoenix Suns 115-114 on Halloween; at Phoenix again on November 2 132-121; vs. the Los Angeles Lakers 129-115 on December 15; and at the Portland Trail Blazers 118-105 on December 28.
Of those victories, the second one vs. the Suns probably ranks as the most impressive. San Antonio jumped out to a big lead and then behind Wembanyama's fourth-quarter heroics with 10 points in crunch time, held off Kevin Durant and Devin Booker to cap back-to-back triumphs against an expected contender. But that high came in only the Spurs' fourth game of the season with Bradley Beal out for a Phoenix squad that's currently eighth in the West.
So given Milwaukee's current standing as the second-best team in the East and given that all their star players were available Thursday, ClutchPoints asked several of the Spurs' best players if that night proved their best outing of the season.
“Yeah, we definitely played pretty well. As a whole group, it was definitely a team effort. We played good, we fought and a we just came up a little short,” Keldon Johnson answered.
“Good question. This was a good game. I've got to go back and really watch and see what areas we can improve in. I think that was a great game all the way around,” Vassell continued. “We're trying to compete every game. Learning off this game, watching film and seeing areas to where we could've done better, got maybe a better shot or got a stop — that changes the game. If we got three stops, it could've been a totally different game. If we would've got three or more buckets, it would've been a totally different game. So, just learning that and we're going to be good.”
Good is a term that has rarely been used around the Spurs these days. They think they have reason to believe that'll start to change soon.
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