Game Thread Spurs (18-7) vs Knicks (18-7) (Tue 12/16/25) [7:30PM CDT]

[Hotspur]

Ah man RIP to Wemby's grandma. That's probably why he played like shit. Hard to focus on hoops on when ur in mourning

 

[gilmor2002]

This. Barnes has a rich history of shitting the bed when games matter. This is well-known. He can be a Regular Season minutes-eater, that's fine. But dude is a massive choker in Playoff games/games that matter in general. He's a mental midget who can't be counted on when the lights are bright.

I agree. Missed so many 3s.

 

[NotRobDiaz21]

Damn, it really sucks to hear about Wemby losing his grandmother. I know how much my grandmother meant to me, so I can only imagine what he was going through tonight. He did seem a little off, and moments like this remind us that players are human too, dealing with real life and real loss just like everyone else. May his grandmother rest in peace.

 

[timtonymanu]

Damn RIP to his grandmother, lost mine in 2024 and it’s still difficult to deal with. Little reality check to all you entitled pricks that hypercriticize everything because your favorite team didn’t get a win for you.

 

[spurraider21]

Went toe to toe with OKC and the Knicks in consecutive game after beating up on a healthy lakers team, all in the national spotlight, while getting wemby back and being healthy as a squad for the first time all season.

And the one loss doesn’t even count in the standings.

Obviously I’d rather have won but jeez, there is some unnecessary wrist slitting going on. Wemby played poorly. Hes also a 21 year old who just this morning learned his grandmother had passed away.

We saw it took quite a bit of time for Fox to truly find his rhythm after his return. Wemby will deal with the same.

They have another 55+ regular season games left to find their footing and chemistry.

This first stretch of the season has been a resounding success.

 

[Arguendo]

I always thought SpursTalk got to the point where users were trying to impress each other by how negative and whiny they could be. Like it was some in-group thing. That's definitely carried over here, and it's many of the same people. I keep thinking back to the game where Wemby scored 50 points last year and people were rushing in to complain about how Zach Collins played. It's still going on. The team is playing extremely well, yet one of the busiest threads is about Sochan.

America is a miserable place right now, and the Internet in America is filled with miserable people. I wish they'd shut up, at least long enough to talk about the good things, but really what's most important for them is to impress each other. It's just a circle jerk.

Anyway, the Spurs just beat the Thunder. They made it to the final Cup game. Knicks do give them trouble, but we're still growing. Keep on.

100%. Plus the Spurs absolutely spoiling a fanbase for what success/normal looks like.
The Timmy Spurs/Big3 weren't anything close to normal. DR and his hand-off to Timmy wasn't normal. Kawhi's transformation and the BEAUTIFUL GAME weren't normal.
That was all outlier, after outlier, after outlier.
Manu could've been a pre-Harden Harden, but he was cool with winning.
Many Spurs (only) fans take all that shit for granted, like its normal. (And a huge portion of the people here/ST only watch Spurs pretty obviously don't know boarder NBA/basketball)
Spurs had a 25-yr run with outlier, after outlier, after outlier. And take it all for granted like it's normal. Kawhi was the first take for NBA normal, and that was buffered by LA wanting to be here.
Then crazy lottery luck from #1, to #4 (with the best player falling to #4), to number #2. After crazy luck to get #1 twice with DR and TD in the draft where they were WOW #1s. Its all just normal for Spurs fans. But crazy outlier after outlier.

There's not a single thing that's NBA (or pro-athelte) normal about David, or Timmy, or Manu. Tony had some normal things, but being People Top50 and sticking in SA is highly abnormal and he easily could've gone and put up much bigger numbers somewhere else for a lot more money but with WAY less success (same for Manu, but he came in at 25 as an MVP so knew/chose to stick with the situation knowingly)
WE ARE THE MOST SPOILED FANBASE IN SPORTS. PLEASE REALIZE THAT.

This is SA, not LA. Okay, we missed the playoffs for 6 yrs, after like 30 yrs for 50+ win level yrs. Jesus. This is not normal. Look around the league, exempt the Lakers (cuz obvi rigged for them)...try to be appreciative for how fucking good you have it.
Please look at the Bucks and what they are, who they've had and compare to the Spurs. Fuck. How about the Knicks? ORL? UTA? Literally everyone but LAL and BOS and since i've been alive, really just LAL. Imagine being a SAC fan, POR, ATL. They had real teams, nothing...then treadmill or worse. We should be that, but we're fucking lucky in the draft (and in the right yr to be lucky again and again and again).

 

[spurraider21]

Also by my count the 3 guards combined for 95 of the 96 total guard minutes. True 3 man rotation with even Harper getting 28+

 

[TimmyBuckets]

RIP Wemby's grandma

 

[PhantomDashCam]

Hopefully just another road bump on the way to the ultimate goal.
I give a tonne of credit to the Knicks for seizing the opportunity.

Apart from Castle consistently playing with that tenacity and grit, I thought New York out-willed and out-hustled us in most facets of the game (not something I expected going in tbh. Oh the irony…)

Proud of this team. Genuinely believe a little humbling will serve them well for the rest of the season.

Castle. Still shaking my head. What an absolute stud.

 

[John B]

RIP to Wemby’s grandma.

I wish they won, but it’s a great experience for this team. I thought they fought remarkably well. They could’ve rebounded better, especially avoiding 2nd chances. But if Barnes shot a little better, I think they’d won. It’s a great learning experience to be playing for the Cup. I wish they’d get something out of this experience and continue the growing process.

 

[Arguendo]

Wemby's poor decision making and inability to get into advantageous positions needs to be dealt with before he can lead a team in the playoffs. This is shades of him celebrating after the 5 game win streak and then proceeding to suck the next few. He seems to relish in a big win and then have a huge hangover the next few.

Obviously this team is still young so they will be inconsistent. The pieces and talent are there, just need the development and focus to win consistently.

Agree, but best place to learn this is this play-offs intensity, but doesn't actually matter game.

 

[Ice009]

Didn’t read this thread… but will later I suppose.

Had fun for 3 quarters.

I will rebound from this loss… because I don’t play for this Spurs and I know how to. (That’s my grade in a nutshell)

I meant to ask if your night wasn't too bad despite the loss, but got caught up in the game/loss/venting afterwards. I think this was the first live game I watched this season or maybe the second. The OKC game sucked as we've had some power outages here and it went out 10 hours or so before the game (I was planning to watch it live) and I couldn't watch it until the next day (couldn't even get the internet to work on my phone). I should have just went to bed and watched the Knicks game after work. Gonna be a crap day now with minimal sleep. Oh well, these games have been the biggest games in a long while for the Spurs and I wanted to watch it live since it was the final.

How was the feeling in the arena? Did the rebounding look as bad live in-person as it did on TV? Did it look like the Knicks outhustled the Spurs?

https://twitter.com/x/status/2001175332905455701

Darn, sorry to hear this, Victor.

 

[Fireball]

Yeah, I don't want to talk shit about Keldon, but may as well say it. I've been thinking for a while he's likely going to be useless in the playoffs. Just not a steady enough player. Doesn't have anything go-to.

You were on a negative role tonight my man

 

[siraulo22]

damn i was about to watch but got spoiled at the last second

couldnt quite complete the llama run, but all in all, impressive run, beat the nuggets to get into the cup, then a couple of great wins vs the lakers and the thunder

now stay healthy and get some reps with the full team

 

[Ice009]

You were on a negative role tonight my man

First or second live game I caught this season. Oh well, I've tried to be positive on the role players. Some of these things I've been thinking about throughout the season, but never said them. I don't trust Barnes, Keldon, Julian etc. to play as well in the playoffs compared to the regular season. I'd be happy if they just play to their average, but I'm not sure they can even do that when the games are bigger.

Really ecstatic we have Castle and Harper. I'm hardly ever not happy with those two. They play hard all the time. Fox, some critical turnovers that hurt. Victor played a poor game, but it was only his second game back, and no one had any idea his grandmother passed away (I don't think I said much bad about his game last night, though). I'd also like it if Vic didn't give teams bulletin board material. I wonder if the Knicks heard the comments about their offense, if so, I'm sure it motivated them to play harder.

I will say, the one good thing about it was that it doesn't count in the win/loss record, and the players (young guys) can learn a lot from it.

 

[RC_Drunkford]

100%. Plus the Spurs absolutely spoiling a fanbase for what success/normal looks like.
The Timmy Spurs/Big3 weren't anything close to normal. DR and his hand-off to Timmy wasn't normal. Kawhi's transformation and the BEAUTIFUL GAME weren't normal.
That was all outlier, after outlier, after outlier.
Manu could've been a pre-Harden Harden, but he was cool with winning.
Many Spurs (only) fans take all that shit for granted, like its normal. (And a huge portion of the people here/ST only watch Spurs pretty obviously don't know boarder NBA/basketball)
Spurs had a 25-yr run with outlier, after outlier, after outlier. And take it all for granted like it's normal. Kawhi was the first take for NBA normal, and that was buffered by LA wanting to be here.
Then crazy lottery luck from #1, to #4 (with the best player falling to #4), to number #2. After crazy luck to get #1 twice with DR and TD in the draft where they were WOW #1s. Its all just normal for Spurs fans. But crazy outlier after outlier.

There's not a single thing that's NBA (or pro-athelte) normal about David, or Timmy, or Manu. Tony had some normal things, but being People Top50 and sticking in SA is highly abnormal and he easily could've gone and put up much bigger numbers somewhere else for a lot more money but with WAY less success (same for Manu, but he came in at 25 as an MVP so knew/chose to stick with the situation knowingly)
WE ARE THE MOST SPOILED FANBASE IN SPORTS. PLEASE REALIZE THAT.

This is SA, not LA. Okay, we missed the playoffs for 6 yrs, after like 30 yrs for 50+ win level yrs. Jesus. This is not normal. Look around the league, exempt the Lakers (cuz obvi rigged for them)...try to be appreciative for how fucking good you have it.
Please look at the Bucks and what they are, who they've had and compare to the Spurs. Fuck. How about the Knicks? ORL? UTA? Literally everyone but LAL and BOS and since i've been alive, really just LAL. Imagine being a SAC fan, POR, ATL. They had real teams, nothing...then treadmill or worse. We should be that, but we're fucking lucky in the draft (and in the right yr to be lucky again and again and again).

and that's with all the teams consistently prying our coaches, staff and FO members away

 

[spursistan]

Gotta love how some folks are now dismissing the Cup final as meaningless exhibition. A 'big game' is all relative but this counts as one for a franchise that's endured six straight seasons ranging between mediocrity and flat our awfulness.

It is ok to admit, it was a big test and we failed to finish the job indicating we are not yet totally 'built for this ' contra the premature verbal ejaculation performed by our best player..

 

[RC_Drunkford]

I knew when Clarkson made back to back 3s in the fourth to give the Knicks the lead that the game was over. The Knicks just got all the 50/50 balls and outhustled us on the glass. The refs were also terrible. Good learning experience for the young guys, now let's get back to the playoff race.

 

[timtonymanu]

Gotta love how some folks are now dismissing the Cup final as meaningless exhibition. A 'big game' is all relative but this counts as one for a franchise that's endured six straight seasons ranging between mediocrity and flat our awfulness.

It is ok to admit, it was a big test and we failed to finish the job indicating we are not yet totally 'built for this ' contra the premature verbal ejaculation performed by our best player..

My guy, no one is saying it’s bad to take this game seriously. I’m annoyed we didn’t win and it’s clear we need to work on things. But the over the top meltdowns and attack on Wemby as a person is outright pathetic. Especially now that we know his grandma died. He could have easily just chose to sit out the game but powered through and played anyway. I’ve been one that called Wemby a fraud early in the season but he’s come up huge for us in certain games

It’s the same shit that some of you do with Fox when he plays horribly in some games. Call me a sniffer but it’s easier to feel good about some of these losses when some posters on here act so entitled when the spurs don’t do so well. Like holy shit this is the best Spurs season in years. Just fucking enjoy it and worry about title or bust next season. It’s not like most of us think they can win this year anyway. They’re on the right track at the moment.

 

[heyheymymy]

Incredible performance by OG Anunoby, he was killing us all game with timely shots and plays. Congrats to the New York Knicks Cup Champs! I really wanted this victory and hate the outcome of this game. But SA got what they came for: some legitimacy and a test run in a playoff level intensity atmosphere. Dylan Harper looked fantastic out there as well, hats off to the rookie for holding up well in such big lights.

 

[heyheymymy]

I knew when Clarkson made back to back 3s in the fourth to give the Knicks the lead that the game was over. The Knicks just got all the 50/50 balls and outhustled us on the glass. The refs were also terrible. Good learning experience for the young guys, now let's get back to the playoff race.

yeah it was that stretch with Clarkson and Kolek triples. Kinda reminded me of the Christmas Day game last year where the Knicks seemed to push it up with a late flurry the Spurs couldn't hang with largely off Bridges that time. Knicks have the talent to explode like that in such an uncontainable way sometimes.