Analysis GAME GRADES: 11/7/2025 | SPURS 121 - ROCKETS 110

[scott]

SPURS 121 - ROCKETS 110 | SPURS IMPROVE TO 6-2

Scott's Notes:

• Never count out The Black Falcon. Our man HB played probably his best game as a Spur when we needed him most. It wasn't just the 3s, but the excellent defense he played on KD. If we could get this version of HB every game, look out. I do hope he has an opportunity for a lighter load today against the Pelicans, because 39 minutes is a lot for our man. For those who called him washed in the pre-season and said his shooting was a fluke last year, homie up to .488 on 5.4 3PA/gm
• Speaking of minutes, one big difference in Mitch from the Pop days, Mitch isn't afraid to play guys big minutes when it's needed. A lot of this has been driven by necessity due to injuries, but you know Pop would have had Kelly O and Bismack out there losing us the game instead of playing Wemby 37 minutes.
• Wemby looked like straight doo-doo for 2 quarters, and then it's like he snapped out of whatever spell Grayson Allen put on him and returned back to us. Welcome back, Vic. Very solid second half from him, but we do need him to cut out the careless fouls. There were two in the 3rd quarter (his 2nd and 3rd PF) that would loom large later. They were both very unnecessary and should have been avoided. Vic worked himself into foul trouble for no good reason with those two dumb fouls. This game was hard for me to grade, but I landed on a 3. Could have easily been a 4 though.
• Stephon I gave a 4 despite a great game as a playmaker. The turnovers are just too much man. Happy Fox will be back today and Castle can move to a more suitable secondary ball handler role for the majority of his minutes.
• Great game from Champ as well, not just with the 3s but also on the boards. He's really stepped up in that regard, averaging 6.3 reb/gm and leading our non-bigs (Wemby, Kelly O, Korndog) in REB%, even over Keldon.
• Speaking of Keldon, wasn't huge on the box score, but had a great game bringing heart and energy. Love the way he is crashing the offensive boards. Kelly O and Korndog have absurd OREB% numbers in a small sample (only 2 games for each), but Keldon is our leading OREB% guy outside of those two. At 12.6%, he's double Wemby at 6.3%!
• Jeremy played some good D, but that was embarrassing on the offensive end. The kind of offensive performance that leads us to say Carter Bryant needs time in Austin... that's what Sochan delivered yesterday. On the bright side, his FTs look good?
• Vassell was useful and hit some big threes, but there was one possession in the 4th (after Barnes drew the charge) where he just completely screwed the pooch and left me wondering WTF goes through this guys head. He had HB standing wide open in the corner but Devin went into some NBA2k advanced dribble animation he couldn't cancel out of and turned the ball over. WTF.

What You Said:

• @spurraider21
  • Sochan - his offense was 1-worthy but the defense was a 5. Whether he was defending Amen, Durant, Sengun, or even at times Adams, he was successful
  • Wemby - tale of two halves. His perimeter oriented game works when being defended by bigs one on one. When teams guard him with smaller guys, he can’t be calling for the ball at the 3 point line. Everything clicked when he operated closer to the basket. Overall i gave him a 3. Defensively he was fine but committee unnecessary fouls and was in foul trouble yet again.
  • Barnes - easy 5. Dude was manning up KD and hitting step back 3s
  • Julian - also got a 5. Finally went off from 3 and was active and aggressive defensively
• @brazil
  • Well against the double, triple teams kicking out to outside shooters is not revolutionary but against Houston they did it efficiently.. 45 3 pts converting 40% of them is an obvious receipt for a win.
  • I continue to lmao at dat dude explaining Barnes is spurs weakest link
  • Finally this was one of those games fr Victor, pretty pedestrian stat sheet but he had a really good game, dat fourth quarter effort he often delivers is championship material. Some games Victor has some wow stat lines but meh games, against Houston it was the opposite
• @Area 51.247
  • It's a team game. Spurs won with team effort, focus, and intensity. They picked each other up and didn't get flustered when they made mistakes.
  • Maestro and the Mariachis did well, in particular Sweeney and Williamson's work with the defensive preparation. Spurs hawking the passing lanes and forcing 23 turnovers was wild.
  • Who expected Champ, Barnes, and Victor to defensively frustrate and outplay KD, Sengun, and the Rockets' multiple high draft pick forwards? Wonderful to see!
  • One of the Prime announcers, lamenting the combined 43 turnovers in the game said: "That's what happens when teams play without point guards!" This while Reed Sheppard was bringing the ball up while being guarded by Steph, I believe.
• @PhantomDashCam - Had the makings of a third straight frustrating affairs. Harry Barnes was having none of that. Arguably his best game in a Spurs jersey. Thrilled to see Wemby starting to figure out doubles more consistently.
• @Robz4000 - First half was rough until the final few minutes, then the Spurs adjusted and flipped the game script tbh. Major props to Mitch and Wemby for changing their approach and to Barnes and Champ for shooting lights out. Also huge nod to Keldon for his timely plays (outside leaving Sengun wide-open at the end of the third inexplicably) and Castle for his playmaking.
• @NotoriousHOP -
  • Sochan - Why does he go 0 of 5 but still get a 4? Because he played his brand of disruptive defense. Took on Durant and Sengun and did well. Echos of Bruce Bowen pest vibes
  • Barnes - Shot lights out but he earned his 5 because the effort he put in on Durant. Barnes is far from a good defender but he understood the assignment and showed out tonight.
  • Champ - We don't win without his shooting. Better than normal effort on defense.
  • Wemby - Gets a 4 because he showed life out there. Houston didn't double and triple as much as he has seen recently and it awoke some aggressiveness in him. Hopefully he carries this forward.
  • McLovin - Gets crapped on a lot here but he gave some quality minutes tonight. Ball handling options are lean right now and he did well.
• @heyheymymy - Gutsy win for SA! The NBA Cup games may provide a postseason test environment for Mitch to see what guys will do under pressure. Great early lessons and experience for a team with playoff aspirations.
• @ginobilized - Loved how we kept our composure in the teeth of the game and made plays when it mattered. Such a hard-fought, chaotic battle. Finally figuring out the Rocket's zone was redemptive and seeing the closeness and grit of this young team was very heartening. The Black Falcon was tremendous, obviously. His D on Durant was relentless. Castle, Champagnie and KJ were spirited AF. Wemby played a solid 2nd half and found his rhythm. The teamwork and cohesion of this team, including the coaches, is already stunningly apparent.

Next up: Return of the Fox on the Second Game of a Back to Back. GSG!

 

[Splits]

Vecenie talking Wemby v Sangun, Castle (says in conversation for all-D team for sure), Spurs starting at 3:50

 

[ambchang]

Finally had time to watch the game, and some notes:
- The 2nd quarter is a bit of a disaster, poor offensive execution, but I have to say the defence is still decent, even when Wemby was out.
- Barnes was amazing, scored well, even created a few shots. His defence was not something I have seen from him.
- The Houston announcers are good, very fair. Took a dig at the Lakers too
- Castle struggled a bit and I think the long athletic defenders gave him trouble. Then he found a way to contribute by being very physical. The thing I found to be interesting is how he matched up with Thompson quite a bit and Castle outplayed him, IMO.
- Amen Thompson is a great man to man defender, but he ball-watches a bit too much. That is not a flagrant on Sochan btw.
- Wemby shouldn't really chuck those shots up like that when the team is cold. Turned it around at the end of the 2nd quarter like he got snapped out a trance, then all went well.
- Durant has really lost a step. Yes, Barnes defended well, Sochan defended well, Castle defended well, but if everybody defended well on you, then you are no longer unguardable. But after he got dunked on by Wemby, he answered right away.
- Sengun is becoming more and more hateable. Flops like crazy, dirty, whines for calls, but that guy is good. lol about being blocked by Castle to end the half.
- I still like Jabari Smith junior (and Adams of course), that end of half foul on Castle was stupid though.
- Keldon man, he was a ball of energy. Loved the way he just charged in for rebounds and baskets around the ... well, basket.
- Champaigne was great, shot well, defended well, rebounded well.
- Vassell was good to start the game, then the shots didn't fall. But he did run a few nice plays and kept defending. No complaints.
- Sochan was bad offensively, but he defended very well. He actually rolled for some decent shots at the basket, had a few good passes, and he boxed out well. He played better than the box score suggested but then the box score was absolutely horrifying.
- Olynyk had a nifty move, but I don't recall much else from him. Hope he integrates with this team soon, I think he has a lot to give.
- Jordan Mc was ..... OK? He scored, but I didn't know if those were valuable shots. I felt the offence just stalled when he was there and he was supposed to be a PG.
- A lot of the calls were questionable early on, they kind of levelled off as the game went on.

Overall, I thought we played a very strong game, especially in the 2nd half. Now if we can get some consistency ....

 

[xellos88330]

Glad to see the Spurs figured out that they could apply pressure and not play so passively.