Game Thread Spurs (48-17) vs Nuggets (40-26) (Thu 3/12/2026) [8:00PM CDT]

[Dex]

They just like us though fr fr

 

[spurraider21]

If Biyombo was 33, I think he'd be a killer for us/the team. Yep, he must be one of those guys where his age was faked. Why do they fake their ages? Is it just poor record keeping, or is it to gain advantage playing against younger players to look better and give them an edge to make it further (to the NBA)?

the theory would be the latter, enabled by the former

 

[Amuseddaysleeper]

Keep the thoughts coming @Ice009! You are spot on my friend

 

[spurraider21]

these playoffs arent for carter

 

[MannyIG]

Anyone who has a problem with those numbers as a backup big - his last 3 seasons specifically - is insane. THe chances of us ever having a backup to the backup that does that are low, and if so its not going to be becuase you developed an unknown young player not becuase you went out specifically to get that for the end of your bench in the free agent market.

 

[Raven_]

I shouldn't have read through the game thread after watching the game. Lots of people had good quotes. The game thread wasn't too bad IMO for a loss like this.
I never thought about all those quotes. I'm sure on other forums that would have reached a limit.

I probably wasted my time replying as no one will likely read that many in a row.


I mean, I mentioned that before that they can't put him on guys like KD, Sengun, KAT, OG, Randall etc., and that they should start playing CB more to be able to play him on those guys when the Spurs need to give Victor a rest or need another big versatile defender to guard bigger mobile PFs, BUT, as usual, Mitch doesn't seem to trust CB and put Keldon on guys like Jokic.

In this example, though, you're saying he got scorched by Murray and not to put him on big guys. Last I looked, Murray is not a big guy, so what are you referring to here?

Also, wouldn't you guys say that Steph isn't allowed to play as physical as some of the other SG/SF defenders in the league? It seems Castle isn't allow to play as physical as guys like Dort that can rough people up.

what castle is great at, is staying in front of fast guys by going around screens, but in order to do so he needs to be dialed in on the player rather than trying to roam around and then attempt to go for blocks from behind. That ain't it.

 

[Raven_]

If Biyombo was 33, I think he'd be a killer for us/the team. Yep, he must be one of those guys where his age was faked. Why do they fake their ages? Is it just poor record keeping, or is it to gain advantage playing against younger players to look better and give them an edge to make it further (to the NBA)?

it is because in tribes, concepts like years are completely irrelevant

 

[LeBowen]

Anyone who has a problem with those numbers as a backup big - his last 3 seasons specifically - is insane. THe chances of us ever having a backup to the backup that does that are low, and if so its not going to be becuase you developed an unknown young player not becuase you went out specifically to get that for the end of your bench in the free agent market.

I don't think many people have an issue with Kornet, the issue is that Olynyk and Biyombo are dead weight. So we had to add another veteran big.
You're the first one to doubt Wemby's reliability, we can't be have just one servicable backup big on the roster.

That's why I said I'd like us to add a PF/C.
Having a reliable rotation player that can only play C is difficult because whoever we try to sign will know he's the third choice.

 

[MannyIG]

Anyway I got distracted by that awful take, but what I came in here to post was that the loss last night is the exact fear we should have with this team. They were juxtaposed by a team with a lot of playoff experience who knew exactly what they had to do to get points down the stretch. Meanwhile, the Spurs really floundered during a stretch and looked absolutely lost. Honestly, thats more of what we should have seen throughout this year and while I think the Spurs are good enough to win the title simply because of how much Wemby impacts the game, the likelyhoood that we'll see more stretches that this is high. Almost no one on this team has experienced playoff basketball outside of Fox and Barnes. I don't think that you can necessarily teach that and while these intense games down the stretch are going to help, the truth is that this is going to be a blind spot for the entire year. The hope has to be that with Wemby being so damn dominant, it won't be the deciding factor, but I do think that is a tough ask. I think that folks should be prepared for something like a 2nd round loss in the playoffs if things turn out like this and to understand that is a part of the process. The way many of you react during game threads, this is probably an impossible ask, but I just think its realistic with a completely inexperienced team.

It also shows how important legit stars are. Handful of games over the past couple of weeks where we really see the impact MVP level players - or their absence - are having on the games.

 

[MannyIG]

I don't think many people have an issue with Kornet, the issue is that Olynyk and Biyombo are dead weight. So we had to add another veteran big.
You're the first one to doubt Wemby's reliability, we can't be have just one servicable backup big on the roster.

That's why I said I'd like us to add a PF/C.
Having a reliable rotation player that can only play C is difficult because whoever we try to sign will know he's the third choice.

I have an issue with not having 500 million dollars in my bank account but that doesn't mean adding it is just a switch I flip. I don't think anyone disagrees that it would be good to have as good as 3rd big as we can, and I don't disagree that not having one anything but a limitation to this team but I also don't really give a shit that they didn't have the foresight to make sure we had one as there's no obvious offseason move that they missed out on IMO; especially when you combine that with the fact that we're not supposed to be winning 60 games this year and we probably will.

One of things about being ahead of schedule - as fun and amazing as it is - is that there will be holes.

EDIT: Also lol @ the first one to doubt Wemby's reliability. Thats nonsense and shows how bad you are at reading. I doubt he's going to have a long career or play 38ppg in any season, but I don't doubt his reliability. So fucking annoying talking with people who have 3rd grade reading levels sometimes.

 

[Russ]

I have an issue with not having 500 million dollars in my bank account but that doesn't mean adding it is just a switch I flip. I don't think anyone disagrees that it would be good to have as good as 3rd big as we can, and I don't disagree that not having one anything but a limitation to this team but I also don't really give a shit that they didn't have the foresight to make sure we had one as there's no obvious offseason move that they missed out on IMO; especially when you combine that with the fact that we're not supposed to be winning 60 games this year and we probably will.

One of things about being ahead of schedule - as fun and amazing as it is - is that there will be holes.

EDIT: Also lol @ the first one to doubt Wemby's reliability. Thats nonsense and shows how bad you are at reading. I doubt he's going to have a long career or play 38ppg in any season, but I don't doubt his reliability. So fucking annoying talking with people who have 3rd grade reading levels sometimes.

You may be right -- but how about drafting Maxime Raynaud last year with their 2nd round pick?

 

[Raven_]

How? Are they producing fake birth certificates in Africa or what?

it is the opposite, they don't have birth certificates at all until they decide to go into normal society

 

[MannyIG]

You may be right -- but how about drafting Maxime Raynaud last year with their 2nd round pick?

Russ I have no idea if a specific 2nd round pick would make us any better today even if they are putting up good stats with a tanking team. His advanced metrics are pretty bad, but I don't know if thats on him or just the situation he's in. But to be fair, couldn't be any worse than what we have now so sure.

 

[TimmyBuckets]

We put up a good fight, and came pretty close to finishing it. There were some mistakes on D, but overall we did well. Murray and Joker's offensive pressure is no joke. Still proud of our performance overall.

 

[spurraider21]

you wouldnt necessarily expect to beat denver without wemby, and so to any extent you could, the margin for error is not all that large. when we actually find ourselves in a position to win it and manage to blow it, of course you'd want to look at accountability for what went wrong to figure out how to improve upon it, rather than throw your hands up and say "well we didnt have wemby so why do you care?"

in the playoffs, even with wemby, margin for error will be smaller than it is in the regular season, so making optimal decisions is going to matter. this isnt a "the sky is falling" situation, even with wemby, there wouldnt be shame in dropping a game to denver, but that doesnt mean there can be no takeaways from it

 

[Ice009]

He was literally the primary backup big for the Celtics the last two years. Boston didn't resign him becuase they expected to tank this year. Thats why they made a lot of moves to offload salary. This whole post is so dethatched from reality.

His minutes per game don't say he was the primary backup big. Porzingis got more minutes both seasons (in the games he played that is). Maybe technically because Porzingis was out of the lineup, you could say Kornet was the backup, but even if he was, he didn't get a lot of minutes. Porzingis got 10+ more mpg in the games he played on average.

Look, I like Luke, but I don't believe he's proven to be a number one backup center on any team for a decent amount of time. I think he's closer to a 3rd string backup center than the 2nd string backup center. I think the Spurs needed a 2A and 2B for backup due to various factors (Victor not playing heavy minutes, in case of player/s being out with an injury), or at least another Luke Kornet like Boston had with Luke as a guy that could step in to the second string spot if needed.

 

[Ice009]

in the playoffs, even with wemby, margin for error will be smaller than it is in the regular season, so making optimal decisions is going to matter

This is the only angle I am looking at. It was a very good game for the Spurs without Vic to have a chance to win it, but I am looking at what's been exposed and how that could be exploited even more in the playoffs. I really don't care about this being a regular season loss. I care about what other teams may try doing in the playoffs with some of these weaknesses the Spurs have shown. Like you said, the margin for error with be a lot less in the playoffs.
Julian's cooled right off these past couple of games and hasn't been much of a factor, so that's another concerning thing.

 

[Amuseddaysleeper]

View attachment 1224

Anyone who has a problem with those numbers as a backup big - his last 3 seasons specifically - is insane. THe chances of us ever having a backup to the backup that does that are low, and if so its not going to be becuase you developed an unknown young player not becuase you went out specifically to get that for the end of your bench in the free agent market.

Kornet has been great on the season, no question about it. No way we win that Orlando game without him. But since returning from injury he’s been woeful,
Considering how poor our front court depth becomes with Kornet fading hard, that is def cause for concern since the playoffs are around the corner, that’s all.

 

[tearsofmorningdew]

You may be right -- but how about drafting Maxime Raynaud last year with their 2nd round pick?

Rumor was that he strongly preferred sacramento/norcal after having gone to Stanford

 

[scott]

This game was a wake up call... the 3rd String C I've been harping about all season isn't Wemby insurance... it's Luke Kornet insurance. @LeBowen @MannyIG

That isn't even a knock on Luke, but it's clear that Korndog is worn out... would have been nice to have someone who can reduce some of his mileage over the course of the season so that he doesn't enter the playoffs completely worn down. Last season was a career high 1361 minutes for him, but that was over 73 games. He's at 1189 minutes over 56 games as of right now, which is already 206 minutes more than his previous career high before last year. He's going to blow right past last year's total.

Luke's going to continue to be an important part of this team... I want 3rd String C to be a priority next offseason so that we can more successfully load manage guys like Luke.

 

[Exstatic]

Anyway I got distracted by that awful take, but what I came in here to post was that the loss last night is the exact fear we should have with this team. They were juxtaposed by a team with a lot of playoff experience who knew exactly what they had to do to get points down the stretch. Meanwhile, the Spurs really floundered during a stretch and looked absolutely lost. Honestly, thats more of what we should have seen throughout this year and while I think the Spurs are good enough to win the title simply because of how much Wemby impacts the game, the likelyhoood that we'll see more stretches that this is high. Almost no one on this team has experienced playoff basketball outside of Fox and Barnes. I don't think that you can necessarily teach that and while these intense games down the stretch are going to help, the truth is that this is going to be a blind spot for the entire year. The hope has to be that with Wemby being so damn dominant, it won't be the deciding factor, but I do think that is a tough ask. I think that folks should be prepared for something like a 2nd round loss in the playoffs if things turn out like this and to understand that is a part of the process. The way many of you react during game threads, this is probably an impossible ask, but I just think its realistic with a completely inexperienced team.

It also shows how important legit stars are. Handful of games over the past couple of weeks where we really see the impact MVP level players - or their absence - are having on the games.

Hate to belabor the obvious, but our (if he hits 65 games) first team All NBA and DPOY didn’t play. Stars ARE important.

 

[dn0774]

I had a bad feeling when HB was announced as active tbh. He played well, wasn't his fault. I just knew the narrative would live on of "HB being out and Spurs win and HB being back and Spurs lose". Sort of reminiscent of when Victor was coming off the bench and the Spurs were winning every game and the first game he gets put back in the starting lineup the Spurs promptly lost lol.

That being said, Carter ending on 9 minutes after producing nicely is a tough beat for the kid. I am guessing Mitch saw the lead whittling down and instinctively trusted the vets. The problem is most of our "vets" (KJ/DV/JC) aren't exactly playoff tested/battle hardened either.

Being on track for the 2nd seed is a huge accomplishment and Mitch should get plenty of credit for that. I only hope Mitch doesn't get too stuck on playing the guys who he thinks are deserving. Like the saying goes, "deserves got nothin' to do with it".

 

[Coyote2!]

Watched the game but honestly don't have enough ball knowledge to figure out what went wrong in the second half last night. Obviously the intensity wasn't the same, and Denver was more aggressive about driving to the basket in the 3rd Q, resulting in a ton of free throws. But is there anything else I'm missing?

 

[frenchfred]

So we lost by 5 points to a team that has won a championship with a two time MVP without our #1 star and people are complaining ?

At the beginning of the year we were hoping to finish 6th in the west to make the playoffs. We are 2nd in the west and have beaten good teams. We are still a work in progress with 3 of our best player who have respectively 3 (2.5 actually), 2 and 1 year experience.

If we go to second round this year, I still consider that to be a great year. We clearly need help at the PF/C position, I lean more toward a real starting PF. An extra summer for our young guys to work on their jumpshot and we are Western finales bound next season

 

[dn0774]

Watched the game but honestly don't have enough ball knowledge to figure out what went wrong in the second half last night. Obviously the intensity wasn't the same, and Denver was more aggressive about driving to the basket in the 3rd Q, resulting in a ton of free throws. But is there anything else I'm missing?

We gave up 83 points in the 2nd half. Our defense was softer than a wet Kleenex and the Nuggets got confident and hot. Mitch was content to let the game devolve into an offensive track meet
with the best offense in the league and the best offensive player of all time.