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

Amuseddaysleeper said:
Nah, Knicks dominated us in the paint, out rebounded the fuck out of us and OG did his best Caruso impression and destroyed us.

It was a very winnable game but the Knicks took it while we bricked so many 3’s. Really hoping we can sign a 4 who can hit 3’s or package some of our draft capital to bring in a dead eye shooter
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Not sure we really disagree here...

I thought it was a very winnable game too, hence the "we gave it to them" to start my post. I also agree we need inside/out 4/5 asap.

My point is that our youth (and a bit the refs) prevented us to create a real gap when we had momentums, iircc our largest was +11 in the 3rd and could've easily been +25pts if we didn't shoot ourselves in the foot with dumb TOs and momentum killers.

Now considering how much we sucked in the 4th it's very possible that NY could've erased a 25pts deficit tbh, but we dominated them for 3 quarters and a more experienced team would've finished them.
 
gilmor2002 said:
The problem starts when Mitch took Wemby out at the end of 3rd quarter.. which given the spurt that knicks need
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Yeah, but they were out playing them most of the game with Wemby not playing particularly well. The bottom line is you can’t get killed on the glass like that. This team has too much size and too many good athletes to allow that to happen. Even with Victor off the floor.
 
The Knicks getting those rebounds isn’t any more material than our shooting turning into a pumpkin and Wemby melting down in the 4th and our inability to hit shots when we could have made the lead more imposing.

Why are we acting like the rebounding has some special significance? It’s just one of multiple factors.
 
I have some thoughts. They aren’t worth much, but I’ll share them anyway from 38,000 feet with a voice so raspy I sound like a haggard sorority girl. At least I got upgraded to first for the flight back to the islands.
  • Just like the Christmas Day game last year, allowing the Knicks to dominate the offensive glass was the game decider. They had 23 OREB, we hade 24 DREB. A near 50% OREB% is pure insanity. Anytime you allow that, you’re probably going to lose.
  • I’ve heard the Cup won’t be in Vegas going forward, and I can see why. The locals here could not give the slightest shit about this and the fact they couldn’t fill the arena is a bad look.
  • Wemby’s second game back, still on minutes restriction, still only the second game with the full squad… I’m not surprised. We still need to figure out how to incorporate him into the fold. I’m not concerned about it, but it needs to be acknowledged that they Spurs won’t figure it out overnight. I could see Wemby missing the WAS game purposely to be rested for ATL, but if he plays that should be a good opportunity to work him back into the fold.
  • Like some others have said, I think this is a good loss. Obviously it doesn’t count against the standings, which is good, but we needed to taste defeat. We need to suffer watching our opponent celebrate after the game. This will fuel the team going forward.
  • This team has proven to be very rapid adapters. I’m looking forward to the Dec 31 game and how we look against NYK. I would not be shocked to see us dominate that game with a chip on our shoulder, having learned from our mistakes.
  • Fuckin’ Jordan Clarkson, man.
  • Fox was really good for 3 quarters and then it all kind of fell apart, kind of like it did for the whole team. I think he had 8 assists at halftime and only 1 in the second half. I hope the staff takes a look at what is a driver behind the inconsistent game flow from Fox. Something is happening in games that takes him out of rhythm.
  • I don’t understand what a foul is, I guess. Granted, I was sitting in the upper bowl and they did not really show replays at all, but it sure seems like our guys get fouled a lot with no calls. With that said, we were +7 on FTA so IDK
  • Castle and Harper were really good. Harper’s shot looked so pure.
  • I think I’m not on a 4 game losing streak. L @ BOS when Tatum dropped 60 on us and we blew a huge lead. L in SA against DAL in 2021 I believe, L @ Clippers in Wemby’s rookie year when Wemby played poorly, and L yesterday. I need something to break me out of my own personal funk. Someone buy me tickets to Spurs @ Kangz.
  • Not much to say on Barnes. He’s in a slump right now, at a bad time. It happens.
  • Thought Vassell played well again, though his shooting stats weren’t great. Noted some good defensive possessions from him.
  • Korndog Lob City will never not be awesome.
  • I know folks get caught up in emotions during game threads, but reading back through 40 pages this morning… man, our fan base can be a bit psychotic lol. Everything’s gonna be alright, guys.
  • That’s it, time to fire Pop
 
scott said:
I have some thoughts. They aren’t worth much, but I’ll share them anyway from 38,000 feet with a voice so raspy I sound like a haggard sorority girl. At least I got upgraded to first for the flight back to the islands.
  • Just like the Christmas Day game last year, allowing the Knicks to dominate the offensive glass was the game decider. They had 23 OREB, we hade 24 DREB. A near 50% OREB% is pure insanity. Anytime you allow that, you’re probably going to lose.
  • I’ve heard the Cup won’t be in Vegas going forward, and I can see why. The locals here could not give the slightest shit about this and the fact they couldn’t fill the arena is a bad look.
  • Wemby’s second game back, still on minutes restriction, still only the second game with the full squad… I’m not surprised. We still need to figure out how to incorporate him into the fold. I’m not concerned about it, but it needs to be acknowledged that they Spurs won’t figure it out overnight. I could see Wemby missing the WAS game purposely to be rested for ATL, but if he plays that should be a good opportunity to work him back into the fold.
  • Like some others have said, I think this is a good loss. Obviously it doesn’t count against the standings, which is good, but we needed to taste defeat. We need to suffer watching our opponent celebrate after the game. This will fuel the team going forward.
  • This team has proven to be very rapid adapters. I’m looking forward to the Dec 31 game and how we look against NYK. I would not be shocked to see us dominate that game with a chip on our shoulder, having learned from our mistakes.
  • Fuckin’ Jordan Clarkson, man.
  • Fox was really good for 3 quarters and then it all kind of fell apart, kind of like it did for the whole team. I think he had 8 assists at halftime and only 1 in the second half. I hope the staff takes a look at what is a driver behind the inconsistent game flow from Fox. Something is happening in games that takes him out of rhythm.
  • I don’t understand what a foul is, I guess. Granted, I was sitting in the upper bowl and they did not really show replays at all, but it sure seems like our guys get fouled a lot with no calls. With that said, we were +7 on FTA so IDK
  • Castle and Harper were really good. Harper’s shot looked so pure.
  • I think I’m not on a 4 game losing streak. L @ BOS when Tatum dropped 60 on us and we blew a huge lead. L in SA against DAL in 2021 I believe, L @ Clippers in Wemby’s rookie year when Wemby played poorly, and L yesterday. I need something to break me out of my own personal funk. Someone buy me tickets to Spurs @ Kangz.
  • Not much to say on Barnes. He’s in a slump right now, at a bad time. It happens.
  • Thought Vassell played well again, though his shooting stats weren’t great. Noted some good defensive possessions from him.
  • Korndog Lob City will never not be awesome.
  • I know folks get caught up in emotions during game threads, but reading back through 40 pages this morning… man, our fan base can be a bit psychotic lol. Everything’s gonna be alright, guys.
  • That’s it, time to fire Pop
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The crowd noise on TV was fake right?

They really were pumping it in when obviously nobody you could see on camera was reacting at all.
 
Shmurs said:
The crowd noise on TV was fake right?

They really were pumping it in when obviously nobody you could see on camera was reacting at all.
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The Knicks fans were very loud, especially on the side of the court that we finished on offense in the 4th. I didn’t get the sense that there were that many more Knicks fans, but they were definitely a lot louder.

I did see a lot of Spurs jerseys and gear in the crowd, which was great to see away from home. When I’ve gone to games in BOS or LA, I’ve always been the only one in Silver & Black.
 
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Wemby_Island said:
SPURS really have to create a FLOW plan for Wemby.

Find his strengths and limit him to hit those over and over and over. I feel its mid range jumper.

With this style of play he is so interesting to watch, but also feels like its not a championship play.
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Bingo. It's what I said in the other thread.

Mitch has to find a way to bring Wemby's defense without allowing him to bog down the offense and take away the rhythm from an offense that was cooking for 12 games without him. He needs to fit in the offense.
 
wemvp said:
Bingo. It's what I said in the other thread.

Mitch has to find a way to bring Wemby's defense without allowing him to bog down the offense and take away the rhythm from an offense that was cooking for 12 games without him. He needs to fit in the offense.
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If players hit open 3s and we don't give up a thousand rebounds, we win.

That 4th quarter collapse sucked dick.
 
all i saw was a reckless wemby and the score goes down... as well as a turnover machine in fox. Sad we were up plenty at the end of the 3rd just to get wrecked in the 4th.
 
koriwhat said:
all i saw was a reckless wemby and the score goes down... as well as a turnover machine in fox. Sad we were up plenty at the end of the 3rd just to get wrecked in the 4th.
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all those mistakes aside, this game was lost on the boards imo.

4th quarter opened with them getting 3 offensive rebound in one possession leading to a dunk. 2 offensive rebounds next possession leading to a 3. then another offensive rebound leading to a 3. immediate 8-0 run to give them the lead and they didnt look back. they ended the game with 23 offensive rebounds and we ended the game with 24 defensive rebounds.

we only had 8 turnovers for the game, so it wasnt that bad, and they had 10 themselves.
 
I'm verry conflicted about this game, this loss, or the Idea of even Giving at Letter Grade for it all.
- The game does not count.
- It does not exist according to official NBA records.
- All shots made and missed, and all statistics, reside solely in the isolated realm of the NBA Emirates Airlines Cup in Las Vegas.

It means nothing and everything at the same time, an embodiment of a paradox.

The games leading up to the Cup Game are real and they matter—it’s the beginning of what could be the epic journey of a preeminent NBA, or even world sports franchise, a mythological trek back to Mt. Olympus with all the legendary heroes such stories demand. A band of heroes battered and short-handed without the Demigod, our Achilles, Victor Wembanyama. Led by our own Odysseus in Mitch and his coaching staff, they overcame the group of death, culminating in slaying the wicked Lakers in their kingdom. King James Head on a Pike.

The next challenge was to face the feared OCK Hydra, runner-up in the last of those mythical games. Since that loss, they’d gone on to win the NBA Larry O.B. Trophy and were hailed as the greatest team ever. They also tore through a 16-game win streak, crushing opponents by nearly 21 points on average. Our heroes entered the Las Vegas arena, unsure if their demigod would return to join the fight. In an intense, back-and-forth clash, the hero and his comrades showed their grit, ultimately driving the OCK Floppers from the court. It was the perfect finale to be etched into the NBA’s history books.

The team fell short in the Mythical Emirates Airlines Cup, with some saying they collapsed in the fourth quarter. The Knicks proved to be a tough opponent, even if they weren’t as hyped as the OKC Thunder. Over the past four years, they’ve been on their own path, nearly reaching the finals as last season’s Eastern Conference runners-up. Some think they could have given the powerhouse OKC a tougher fight than the Pacers managed. Our Guys had them and were threatening to open up a 20-point lead of their own, all the way until they didn't. Was it fool’s gold, as people in the comments like to say? Or was it simply a case of a group of young men losing focus and concentration, and with it, the edge to close out the game? We later learned that our hero’s grandmother had passed earlier on the very day of this mythic contest.

So, I cannot see how I could give this a Letter Grade, In Fact to give this a Grade would be 🏳️‍🌈 so :st-elephant:
See what I did there @brazil?

Our heroes stand at 18-7, their epic journey to Olympus still underway. How long it will take is anyone’s guess, depending on whether lessons were learned from this game that exists only in Vegas and from the challenges still ahead.
 
i wasnt able to watch the game in its entirety, so im not too comfortable handing out player grades because they'd be incomplete.

but overall i give the game a B. the knicks are a very good team, they play good team defense, are physical, and brunson is a monster surrounded by a really great, complementary cast. OG had a monster game, and Clarkson can always pop off on a nightly, or even quarterly basis. it happens. we still played a pretty good game and held a small lead for what felt like most of the game.

brunson was clearly frustrated most of the game. wound up with an inefficient 11-27 shooting performance, with 8 assists and 4 turnovers. thats a win for us defensively. things werent clean for us offensively, especially with wemby being mostly bad besides that one hot stretch, but it was mostly turnover free (we had 8 as a team) and it didnt really seem like guys were just hoisting bad shots. offense sputtered way more in the 4th and we got annihilated on the boards, but it wasn't some catastrophic game for us.

like i said pre-game, i actually thought a close loss would be the best result. not a blowout where there is nothing to take away from it, but close enough where we know we could win these games if we execute better, and find specific, actionable things to improve upon. it doesnt count as an official loss so its just free playoff experience against a vet team. i'll take it. and prevents heads from getting too big
 
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spurraider21 said:
i wasnt able to watch the game in its entirety, so im not too comfortable handing out player grades because they'd be incomplete.

but overall i give the game a B. the knicks are a very good team, they play good team defense, are physical, and brunson is a monster surrounded by a really great, complementary cast. OG had a monster game, and Clarkson can always pop off on a nightly, or even quarterly basis. it happens. we still played a pretty good game and held a small lead for what felt like most of the game.

brunson was clearly frustrated most of the game. wound up with an inefficient 11-27 shooting performance, with 8 assists and 4 turnovers. thats a win for us defensively. things werent clean for us offensively, especially with wemby being mostly bad besides that one hot stretch, but it was mostly turnover free (we had 8 as a team) and it didnt really seem like guys were just hoisting bad shots. offense sputtered way more in the 4th and we got annihilated on the boards, but it wasn't some catastrophic game for us.

like i said pre-game, i actually thought a close loss would be the best result. not a blowout where there is nothing to take away from it, but close enough where we know we could win these games if we execute better, and find specific, actionable things to improve upon. it doent count as an official loss so its just free playoff experience against a vet team. i'll take it. and prevents heads from getting too big
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To add to your astute comment… or restate… or echo… or whatever very you like…

The things we learned last night are things that will be long, enduring lessons. (Nothing something fluky like “you have to make your 3s). They were more fundamental things that hopefully the staff have been trying to drill into the team. Rebounding and leaving guys open for 3. If you allow a 50% OREB rate, you are probably going to lose. If you allow guys like Clarkson and Kolek get open for 3… they’re probably going to burn you.

There were other things you can away fro the game, but those two things were really the difference.
 
Honestly this game was Knicks getting almost every rebound, Spurs missing open shots and baby layups, and not getting foul calls. There were some missed shots in the fourth and Fox fumbled uncharacteristically, but I'm not going to be mad at him for not being clutch in 2 games, when he's been clutch in every other game. That's about it.
 
This happens to young teams that never been in the playoffs before we see it every year in the NBA playoffs this is part of the learning process of becoming a team that has expectations and trying to live up to them against other good teams.

The worse part is this team keeps letting teams back into the game they managed to win most them they need to learn to put teams away. The worse part they are usually self inflicted also the team missed a lot of open shots and then mix in a few really bad shot selections. Then just getting outworked on the boards in the 4th qtr
 
Predictable result, right down to Robinson swinging the game. As I said beforehand, it's virtually impossible to overcome the urgency of accomplished veterans, who have been on good teams, but never won and know deep down this could be as close as they come to a championship.

I wouldn't read anything into it beyond that, other than again the majority of the most important youth not having the moment be too big for them.
 
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