The Spurs became the second NBA team to clinch a playoff spot after pulling off a comeback victory over Phoenix on Thursday.
Victor Wembanyama, who had game highs of 34 points and 12 rebounds in 35 minutes, converted a game-winning fadeaway jump shot with 1.1 seconds remaining to put San Antonio up one (Twitter video link via the NBA). The Suns didn’t have a timeout to advance the ball, and Devin Booker missed a heave from beyond half court as time expired.
The Spurs, who have the second-best record in the league and are currently the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, improved to 52-18 with the win, while the No. 7 Suns dropped to 39-31. Phoenix is now 13 games behind San Antonio with only 12 games remaining, so there’s no way for the Suns to make up the deficit.
This will be the first playoff appearance for the Spurs since 2019, when they were eliminated in a seven-game first-round series against Denver. No one from that roster is on the current iteration of the team.
The Spurs had a strong start to the season, going 23-7 over their first 30 games. They had a brief lull in the middle of the season, compiling a 9-9 record from December 27 through January 31, but have been on fire ever since, reeling off 20 wins in their past 22 games.
San Antonio trails Oklahoma City, the only other team to secure a playoff berth, by three games for the top seed in the West.
Wemby, castle, Harper with Fox teaching…pretty f-ing good going forward.
bookers a flopper. who wouldve guessed.
Vassell has come along with the system, and defers to castle fox and dyl, for them to handle the ball in transition whenever one is on the floor. The only guy I’m considering moving Vassell for as an upgrade is book.
Booker has a max contract at $53+ mil this season and a max extension at $66 mil/yr signed.
Vassell is making half that, so it couldn’t be a 1:1 deal
Would have to be Fox as his money is closer.
I’d hate to see HB leave but I’d be OK with a 30 million one year sign and trade to make that happen. I’m interested in seeing how the Spurs handle their draft assets. If they kept it all they can sustain this team magnificently, but I feel like a book or trade would be worth giving up 2-3 of those assets.
Booker trade*
not book or trade
Fkin speech-to-text
Fox is having a solid year his splits are at his best.
49%/35%/77% taking less shots 7.2/14.7 FG.
19 pts, 6.3 ast. And excellent defense. He’s avg 31.2 mins. He’s a big part of their success. Spurs are a deep young team.
Fox is worth his max contract so far. Him and HB seemingly fit the spurs mentality. God bless the Kings! Now The Spurs have the lengthiest player in Wemby, and the fastest one in Fox.
The two of them cover so much ground together, and they seem to get along well and compliment each other‘s games.
I would like to see some better timed shots – meaning, that Fox takes his shot while Wemby gets position for the offensive rebound.
Fox had the ability to get to any spot on the floor that he’d like, so a Fox shot while Wemby attacks the board has to be the best shot in the Spurs shot hierarchy.
No way that I would trade Fox for Booker head to head. The Spurs have the perfect skill distribution on the team. Booker and Vassell play similar. As I said, it would be a shame to let Dev, HB & Picks go, but for Booker, I would like to see that happen. If the Spurs win the championship this year, I’d probably like to see the Spurs stand put.
He’s also their vet leader. Wemby is an old soul. He wants to win so he must love Fox. Only thing I like to see Fox at over 8 ast. Spurs are a team who share the ball. It’s not only Fox running the offense. When game is tight. It’s great to have him at PG. Fix doesn’t get enough credit as a defensive player. With Wemby backing him up. He is even better on D.