40 minutes of Lowe talking Spurs. Yes please.

Enzo The Baker said:

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40 minutes of Lowe talking Spurs. Yes please.

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Buried the lede with Kirk Goldsberry on with him.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/47412460/nba-christmas-ten-teams-thunder-lakers-knicks-warriors-spurs#sas

Number that inspires hope: 101.7
The Thunder's historically great defense is allowing 104.6 points per 100 possessions. When Victor Wembanyama is on the floor, the Spurs are allowing 101.7.
Among players averaging 15-plus minutes in 15-plus games this year, the top four players in individual defensive rating are on the Thunder. Next is Wembanyama, who elevates an otherwise below-average defense into a fearsome terror by himself.

Number that inspires concern: 28.8%
Out of 28 guards averaging at least 20 points per 36 minutes this season (minimum 15 games), only four are shooting 30% or worse on 3-pointers: Dylan Harper, Stephon Castle, Devin Booker and T.J. McConnell. The two young Spurs on that list are a combined 28.8% from distance, including an 0-for-3 showing on Christmas.
Thus far, all those long-range misfires haven't slowed the Spurs down. In fact, lineups with Castle and Harper playing together have a massive plus-23.0 net rating, with a good offense and stifling defense.
In a very small sample, moreover, lineups with Castle, Harper and Wembanyama playing together have been so dominant that the numbers are hard to believe: a plus-51.1 net rating or, in raw numbers, a plus-59 scoring margin in 55 minutes.
Nevertheless, those unsightly 3-point numbers from Castle and Harper provide a potential warning sign for the playoffs, when smart, locked-in defenses will crowd Wembanyama's space inside and force his young teammates to make shots from the perimeter. Whether they can may determine whether San Antonio is a true threat to reach the Finals this year, or whether the Spurs need more seasoning before they're ready to win the West.


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The shooting of the young kids isn't worrisome because both their games are about rim pressure. Also for December (since he returned from the hip flexor annoyance) Castle is shooting 54/38/76 with 4.3 3pt attempts per game.

Spurs top team in the NBA right now? I probably won't watch much until playoffs but they were dominating yesterday.

TyHolden said:

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Spurs top team in the NBA right now? I probably won't watch much until playoffs but they were dominating yesterday.

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Spurs were top 5 before this week when we beat the best team in the league twice in a row.

Spurs are 2.5 games out of 1st in the league for HCA throughout the playoffs and they have the tiebreaker over #1 locked down.

De’Aaron Fox is questionable for the Spurs tomorrow against the Jazz with left adductor tightness.

— Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) December 26, 2025

Let him rest, Jazz will be coming off a back to back playing Pistons tonight.

I would think if Fox is out, they wouldnt rest Wemby as well.

AggieEP said:

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. I like 3pt shooting as much as pretty much anyone, but layups are clearly superior if you've got the talent to get those you should choose those.

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Castle 73%, Fox 70%, Harper 68% at the rim. 70% is equal to 1.4 points per possession. You have to shoot about 47% from three to get 1.4 Points per possession. Nuggets lead the league with 1.25 PPP. Spurs are 5th at 1.2 overall. You would have to convert at an insane rate to get close to what the three PGs do at the rim with outside shots. Add in that Wemby is at 80%, Barnes is at 77%, Kornet at 73% and Keldon is at 71%.

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It's also hard to take analysts seriously when they think that teams are going to just crowd Wemby inside forcing all these three point attempts. Wemby almost never sets up initially in the paint. He likes to catch around the elbow or outside the three point line. The reality is that Harper and Castle's rim pressure is what is going to keep teams honest from doubling on Wemby.

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Exactly. He isn't Rudy Gobert in there that can't go anywhere else. And teams have to respect his 3pt shot. He's shooting 44% on catch and shoots 3s this year. We want to set wemby up outside and make them decide if they want to stop Castle or keep a hand in Wemby's face or deny the pass. Even if Castle doesn't consistently hit the three, we have him running the point and getting to the rim at will and can have Fox, Barnes, Devin, Wemby on the perimeter knocking down shots at elite rates. Plus Julian and Keldon both have games where they are super hot. And no one is selfish enough to care if Castle is getting all the touches or they get them. We have enough playmakers and depth to exploit pretty much every team.

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It's one thing to give up a 3pt attempt, but doubling off of Harper or Castle almost guarantees a layup attempt for someone. They both catch the ball with intent to score or get someone else a layup and so far that's how it's played out. We just shredded OKCs defense 2 straight games and exposed that our guards can beat their outside defensive pressure AND score right over and through Chet on the backline.

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Lowe was talking about how OKC usually wears people out with their perimeter defense, but in all three Spurs games, it seemed like the Spurs guards were the ones that wore out OKC. It was something no other team can or has done.

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The thing none of the analysts are talking about is that the Spurs jump forward this year is about being able to put 48 minutes of offensive and defensive pressure on teams.

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I know we have talked about it on this board - but rim pressure is going to bet he new 3pt shot. The Spurs are the first ones on board with that, just like we were the first ones on the corner three with Sean Elliott, then Steve Smith, then Bruce Bowen. I don't remember the corner 3 being talked about in the 90s, but in 99, Sean shot 70% of his threes from the corner. But the Spurs can create rim pressure better than any other team and they can keep two of Castle/Harper/Fox on the court at all times. No one else in the league has a trio that good at that.

And those three have major physical advantages. Fox is quick with his feet and hands - maybe more so than any one in the league. His stopping and changing direction abilities are elite as well. Harper has Kobe's body and he is so freaking patient. Castle and Harper both tested at ~37" vertical at the combine, and I might even suggest Castle has more than that. It is something that OKC struggled with. Dort didn't have the quickness for them and he and Wallace didn't have significantly better strength like they do for lots of teams.

Then the Kornet/Wemby duo is just incredible. 48 minutes of an elite rim protector. Plus Kornet has high value on offense, too.

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Guys are getting to their high percentage spots and capitalizing on those. Keldon is shooting an absurd 58% and illustrates well what happens when you leverage the strengths of each player and keep them in their dangerous spots surrounded by 4 other dangerous players. It's forced defenses to remain honest and allowed most of our guys to operate one on one. Sochan isn't playing because he was one of the guys that was just not efficient enough to keep his defender honest. Kornet doesn't always score, but the moment his guy helps he's making himself available for easy shots. His scoring varies wildly because it's purely a factor of what the defense gives us. Nothing is forced right now and I can see some potential for this group of guys recreating some of the beautiful game magic we saw 10 years ago.

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The selflessness is just incredible. 7 different guys leading the team in scoring in 7 games, all being wins is amazing. OKC is deep and they have had Hartenstein lead once, Chet lead 3x and SGA lead in every other game. Only Brunson, Towns, OG, and McBride have led the Knicks in scoring this year. Last year only 5 Thunder players led the team in scoring (SGA, JDub, Joe, Wiggins, and Dort.)

This is a special team, and there is no reason we can't keep it together and add reasonable pieces as players age out each year. Plus we have guys like Carter Bryant and Viktor Sandizke that can grow and develop into major roles.

Heat are up 12 at halftime against the Hawks. Heat are resting Herro and Bam.

Mostly musing at this point, but assuming OKC still has the focus to finish as the 1 seed, I kind of wonder what our ideal seeding would be. I think Denver finishes either 2 or 3, and so in my mind I think the 4 is the best position for us because I think I'd rather go at OKC before having to work through Jokic. I think Denver will want Jokic to take it to Wemby physically and I'd like to postpone that battle as long as possible.

There's a lot of recency bias in this musing of course, but OKC is the toughest out, but not the most physical out. The idea of having to fight through Jokic first makes me think we'd be weaker heading into a matchup with OKC.

I just don't trust Dort to not pull a Zaza. It seems like he is trying to in every single game. Even old man Harper called Dort out and tagged the NBA and NBA Officials on twitter today.

But I agree, we match up better than I expected against OKC. If Jalen Williams returns to last year's All-NBA form, that may be less true. His stats aren't much different but his impact on the game certainly is. He seemed invisible at times.

Joker is just amazing and the main reason I would hope we can sneak into any Detroit trade to steal away BeefStew as a PF/C rotation player to body up against Joker.

I sure wouldn't mind this seeding:

1 SA
8 Memphis or Portland

4 Lakers
5 Wolves

3 Nuggets
6 Rockets

2 Thunder
7 Suns or Warriors

Yeah, the 1 is clearly superior to all other options and forces OKC and Denver to eliminate one of themselves for us. It just seems unlikely that we outplay OKC record wise considering what they've looked like against the rest of the league.

Dort's antics though are ridiculous and likely to get him suspended if he does that again. I'd honestly be surprised if his own guys don't pull him to the side and let him know that he's going to get SGA targeted by other teams if he keeps insisting on trying to hurt guys by sweeping his leg like a goober.

He's been doing this stuff for years and the league is too gutless to actually do anything about it. Multiple instances of hitting in the nuts, tripping, cheap shots on knees, etc. I remember he hit Hali in the face multiple times during the finals with no problems coming from the league. Supposed to be Flag2 under current NBA rules.

Just look what Lu Dort did to Ja Morant when the Grizzlies were beating the Thunder ass last year:

Successful hate watch of the Hawks.

Hawks couldn't stop someone named Pelle Larsson and lose to Miami without Bam and Herro in Atlanta.

Tomorrow night they get to play the Knicks for the 2nd night of a back to back. Then @OKC and Minnesota.

Lost 5 straight.

Guitarsoup said:

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He's been doing this stuff for years and the league is too gutless to actually do anything about it. Multiple instances of hitting in the nuts, tripping, cheap shots on knees, etc. I remember he hit Hali in the face multiple times during the finals with no problems coming from the league. Supposed to be Flag2 under current NBA rules.

Just look what Lu Dort did to Ja Morant when the Grizzlies were beating the Thunder ass last year:

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That review was ridiculous. I remember that one against Ja.

League apparently has no nads on Dort. I'd just make it public at this point. He takes out Wemby then SGA gets an express ticket to the basket support face first.

If league is too gutless to do anything then every coach needs to put in a scrub player and retaliate against the POS and return the favor to him, fight fire with fire.

Spurs say De’Aaron Fox is OUT tonight (adductor tightness)

— Matthew Tynan (@Matthew_Tynan) December 27, 2025

AggieEP said:

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Yeah, the 1 is clearly superior to all other options and forces OKC and Denver to eliminate one of themselves for us. It just seems unlikely that we outplay OKC record wise considering what they've looked like against the rest of the league.

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We are 2.5 games back and have two games left. Theoretically, if we played half a game better than them the rest of the season and sweep the last two, we tie for the 1 seed and have the tie breaker. Our next game with them is mid-January on the 3rd game of a Boston-Minn-OKC road trip (day of rest between each game.) They play Miami at home with a day of rest before our game.

The last game with OKC is Feb 4th and we play Orlando Feb 1 with two days of rest. Both at home. OKC plays Orlando at home in the 7pm game then flies to SA for the back to back on primetime.

But yeah, they are probably going to continue to win at a really high rate and we probably slot into 2nd. Maybe with extended outage from Cam Johnson and Aaron Gordon, Minnesota can capture the 3rd seed and Denver can slip to 4. Hard to bet against the Joker, though.

Lakers just lost Reaves for an extended amount of time and they are playing like ass anyway. I don't think they can keep 4/5.

So our second best situation would likely be:

1 OKC
8 Suns or Warriors

4 Nuggets
5 Rockets

3 Wolves
6 Lakers

2 Spurs
7 Memphis or Portland

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Dort's antics though are ridiculous and likely to get him suspended if he does that again. I'd honestly be surprised if his own guys don't pull him to the side and let him know that he's going to get SGA targeted by other teams if he keeps insisting on trying to hurt guys by sweeping his leg like a goober.

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I think it is part of their game planning, tbh. They want Dort to be the guy you have to worry about injuring you. Just like Steve Kerr defended Draymond forever. If you are worried about him cheap shoting you, you might not play as hard. And as far as I can tell, he has only been suspended 1 game ever and that was for hitting Gafford in the nuts. Mavs were winning and OKC was playing without Hartenstein or Chet in that game so Gafford was controlling the paint.



This retaliation flagrant in the Finals was only a 1 and probably should have been a 2. Tight game with Indiana up 2-1.



Game before in the Finals, they don't even do anything. Sure, Hali is probably flopping, but Dort is also intentionally hitting him in the face. That's an elbow to the neck/upper chest and hand slap to the face. Not even a call. Indiana winning at the time.



Dort throwing an elbow into Love's face after the whistle. And Love is one of the nice guys in the league. Cavs beating the Thunder at the time.



Joker gets caught with the retaliation for Dort swiping at his midsection.. Tight game with 2 minutes left.



Dort stretching the leg out to swipe Luka while the Mavs are beating the Thunder late in the game:



Dort trying to swat the plugs right out of LeBron's head - oh look Thunder are losing.



5pt game in the 3rd, Dort knees Harden's thigh on the screen. No call.



Game tied, 91-91 in the 4th. PG13 shooting 9-17 for 18/7/5 with 4 stocks. Dort cheap shots PG13 in the knee, ending the season and playoffs for George. Thunder wins by 1. Same play he tried on Wemby this week.



Luka jumps straight up for a rebound, Dort flies into him from no where knocking him down. No call.



Dort flops and kicks his foot under Ingram while Ingram is shooting. Ingram lands on Dort's foot and it ends his season before it begins. The game was Dec 7th.



Game 6, Mavs lead 3-2. Dort hits Lively in the nuts.

Did Lu Dort just grab Dereck Lively’s meat?? pic.twitter.com/nKjxBVP6gn https://t.co/K5iIwX1xvX

— Mark Jackson’s Burner (@casualtakeking) May 19, 2024

Game 1 of Western Semis: Dort intentionally kicks his foot out and trips Luka, no call.

Dort deliberately trips Luka. No call.

Such a dirty player pic.twitter.com/KXqKksyXHF

— 🇦🇺 | 🐺 (@HoodieNaz_) May 8, 2024

It's a feature, not a bug. He's trying to injure the other team's best players, especially in crucial games or tight games. These aren't all coincidences. Nearly every single time, it is the playoffs, OKC is losing, or it is a tight game. Just like his cheap shot on Wemby, which was nearly identical to the time he ended the season for Paul George.

Good post re: all of Dort's antics, didn't realize quite how long the list of dirty plays had reached.

As far as matchups, agree that us vs. Minnesota would likely favor us. It's be interesting to see how they would deploy Gobert in that matchup. You'd think they'd probably put McDaniels on Wemby, but then where do you put Gobert. Maybe on Barnes but that pulls him away from the basket. His value lies in reducing the fg% at the rim but we should be able to neutralize that by drawing him out and away from the rim.

We also should matchup well with Ant by having Castle and (hopefully by this point getting slightly more time) Bryant available to harass him for 48 minutes. Might even be a role for Sochan there to put a bigger guy on him and try and wear him down.

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Good post re: all of Dort's antics, didn't realize quite how long the list of dirty plays had reached.

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When I was going through it (and there are a few other trips I have seen in compilations that I couldn't find in individual videos) the reoccurring theme is that OKC was losing, in a tight game, or a meaningful game in every single one except the Brandon Ingram one that ended his season. It's always a star. He's not out there taking cheap shots on backups or spares. He isn't tripping or hitting guys like Pelle Larsson.

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As far as matchups, agree that us vs. Minnesota would likely favor us. It's be interesting to see how they would deploy Gobert in that matchup. You'd think they'd probably put McDaniels on Wemby, but then where do you put Gobert. Maybe on Barnes but that pulls him away from the basket. His value lies in reducing the fg% at the rim but we should be able to neutralize that by drawing him out and away from the rim.

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I think they play it the way we often do with Kornet. Drop back Kornet to the paint on the strong side, have the other four marked up and you are right about McDaniels on Wemby as much as possible, but they may try to use Randle some because he has the strength to push Wemby around. Will be interesting to watch. We play them next on Jan 11th, 2nd night of B2B after playing at Celtics with 3rd game a day later at OKC.

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We also should matchup well with Ant by having Castle and (hopefully by this point getting slightly more time) Bryant available to harass him for 48 minutes. Might even be a role for Sochan there to put a bigger guy on him and try and wear him down.

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Yeah, hopefully Sochan can get his **** together and be a rotation player by then, because he does a good job of frustrating bigger guys like Ant, Luka, etc. And Ant is a hothead so getting a guy like Sochan in there for runs to chip at him and throw him off would be great. Ant got 3 techs in like 20 seconds last night with a delay of game then two more to get ejected - all in overtime. Minn was down by 2 and needed a stop. Minn made two of the three technical FTs, then Joker gets the OR on the third and gets two more FTs. Ant basically made it from a 2pt game to 6 point game and it iced it. Guys like that, being able to throw multiple defenders with multiple defending styles would be great. Especially since Ant can't keep his emotions in check.

I don't really expect Bryant to be a rotation player then, but man I would love it. Be great if we could count on him for 10-15 minutes of high energy defense and a couple of good looks from three.

Giannis expected to play tonight against the Bulls.

Milwaukee upcoming Schedule:

Bulls (tonight)
Hornets
Wizards
Hornets
Kings

Milwaukee played last night, so tonight is 2nd game of back to back. 1 day of rest between all the other games. Perfect time for Giannis to come back. Also, it coincides with the Hawks on the death schedule.

Bucks are 2.5 games behind the Hawks for 10th place. Hawks could easily be in 11th and out of the Midlanta Invitational (play-in tournament) over the next week.

Mitch Johnson says Victor Wembanyama will start tonight

— Matthew Tynan (@Matthew_Tynan) December 27, 2025

Dort is Temu Draymond. Needs to start getting ejected and treated the same.

LawHall88 said:

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Mitch Johnson says Victor Wembanyama will start tonight

— Matthew Tynan (@Matthew_Tynan) December 27, 2025

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Mitch going to screw up Wemby's shot at DPOY, 6MOY, MVP, and CPOY in one season.

Atlanta missing the play in with all the talent on that team and the pick swap with us would be massively embarrassing for them. It's funny to watch them because the puzzle pieces just don't fit well despite the individual talent they have.

We started talking about this like 2 years ago when Trae was mentioned on here as a possible trade target, but I still find it wild that his defense is so bad that he single handedly makes them bad defensively. He's kind of like the bizarro Wemby, while Wemby elevates us to an elite defense Trae sabotages their entire defense. Even more amazing that he can do that with Dyson Daniels on the squad.

AggieEP said:

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Atlanta missing the play in with all the talent on that team and the pick swap with us would be massively embarrassing for them. It's funny to watch them because the puzzle pieces just don't fit well despite the individual talent they have.

We started talking about this like 2 years ago when Trae was mentioned on here as a possible trade target, but I still find it wild that his defense is so bad that he single handedly makes them bad defensively. He's kind of like the bizarro Wemby, while Wemby elevates us to an elite defense Trae sabotages their entire defense. Even more amazing that he can do that with Dyson Daniels on the squad.

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Their team should make some sense on paper, but it just doesn't work at all and they don't seem like they have any chemistry. Guys that are good at one thing, just completely don't do anything else. I love it so much.

Daniels regressed offensive a lot this year, which clogs everything up for them. It's honestly just like having Sochan out there, if Sochan was significantly worse at shooting than he is right now. Daniels is hitting just 13% of his threes this year, and is 4-43 over his last 20 games.

Jalen Johnson had shown some flashes on defense in prior seasons, but he became an actual turnstile this year when he had to be the primary playmaker. NAW's defense is in and out with him having to run the offense so much when Trae is out.

Hawks fans are complaining that Kennard won't shoot unless he has like 5 seconds of being wide open so he won't mess up his shooting percentages, so he's been getting DNP-CDs.

But the big thing is Okongwu is such an abhorrent rim protector, it kind of doesn't matter how good their perimeter guys are. And his shooting recently has been awful.

And ZR has regressed on both sides of the ball. He's shot a little better the last few games, but he just looks scared and not that great defensively.

Maybe this team is different with Tingus Pingus, but I doubt it, and you can't count on him to be healthy anyway. That's why they got him for Niang, Mann and Cleveland's 2031 2nd round pick. That said, if Kristaps wanted to sign with us for the Vet Min next year...

They don't have a good path forward without their own picks the next two drafts. Which brings up an idea someone floated on the subreddit: If the Hawks wanted to blow things up, would you give them the swap and the 27 1st for the NOLA pick? I think I would add a conditional swap: if the Pelicans pick ends up higher than 12, the Spurs get a 2029 top 4 protected swap.

Jazz hit 75% of their shots including 6 of 7 from three.

Spurs lead by 8 after the first.

Getting some minutes for the deep bench guys in the second. It's not going great.

LawHall88 said:

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Getting some minutes for the deep bench guys in the second. It's not going great.

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Mitch got cute with a lead and we go flat with Sochan and Waters in.

35-14 Jazz so far in the 2nd.

Lack of energy and jacking up 3's like crazy. Wemby and Keldon finally made the smart decisions to get to the basket and make some shots.