Victor Wembanyama 39/15/1/1/5 and Stephon Castle 13/4/12 as Spurs win game 3
Victor Wembanyama 39/15/1/1/5 13-18 FG, 3-5 3P, 10-12 FT +14 37 min
Stephon Castle 13/4/12
De’Aaron Fox 17/3/5/1
https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401871154
Wemby “only” had 5 blocks, but he deterred about 30 shots in the paint. Guy is just an unbelievable combination of length, athleticism, and skill.
That first block was insane. I thought it was gonna be a clear floater and he erased it.
Are you talking about the one on Jaden’s floater? It was a phenomenal block, but it also should have been a goaltend. Was clearly on the way down
It was on the way down just it should be called, but in real time it’s right at the apex of the shot and isn’t a bad miss by the refs.
Definitely hard to call in real time, but they haven’t called him for a single one of them even though there have been 3-4 that were definitely goaltends and 3-4 more that were super close. He doesn’t need no benefit of the doubt in top of his insane abilities
If you’re talking about game 1, there was 1 clear goaltend on the first possession and 1 50⁄50 call, the rest were clean and not fouls either. Then you have this 50⁄50 call tonight as well. Don’t remember any from game 2.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaWvamd_Zd4&t
It’s hilarious to see them bitch about 1.5 goaltends out of 19+ blocks. Wouldn’t have even had an effect on the series.
I mentioned this elsewhere, but he rushed it and it was coming down way before the rim, almost like he was trying to bait a goaltend, lol. But refs don’t aren’t supposed to call it if the shot has no chance, so that might have been why they didn’t call it. I would think it should hit the box score as a rebound then
I was gonna mention that it might’ve been a goal tend, i just can’t believe he even reached it lmao!
You spammed the “goal tend” card already, get better hating material.
The craziest play was when wolves was trying to attack the paint quickly so that Wemby couldn’t get back on defense that it resulted in a bad possession and turnover cause they were rushing it.
3* Blocks
I’m legitimately interested. What do you think the second goaltend was? The first block sure, but what else?
2-1 Spurs
Hell of a “we all contributed to the group project” headline
Wemby carried this game
Still, other players did ebough. Thw champagnie rebounds were huge
Champagnie and Vassel were clutch also KJ, helped stopped the wolves when they were getting a run
Devin has been phenomenal on both ends. I was really off on him for early this season and last year lol
Dylan and Fox as well. The team has shown up
I’m a Fox truther but this game from him had me pulling my hair out - until he hit a few run-stopping buckets and helped close out the game with his ball-handling and quickness to beat the late-game press/trap. Fox is integral to this team right now and fills an important role while sometimes being a straight up scoring demon.
I am the biggest fox fan and I am with you, that first half had me screaming into my hands😂, I think the wolves and the size they have present a difficult matchup for fox, glad he came together more in the second half and helped us close out.
12 assists is pretty major against a physical team like the Wolves, I agree it didn’t jump off the screen though
Wemby man. Shout out to Ant, though. Can’t not like that dude.
God I can’t wait to go East
But then how would we get a classic Denver vs Wolves series every year?
Their mutual spite will carry them both to the Finals lol
We’ve already got a little rivalry with Detroit, so I assume that would blossom nicely.
Man Wolves are just a pain in everyone’s ass.
Pain in my ass for sure
lol
You and Memphis?
🐜 so fucking good man
Giant man. yellow Jacket.
Spurs in 5
He’s the truth
Ants kid says otherwise
or if youre LGBTQ
“Look at these queer-ass n—, man. Look what the world done came to.” - Anthony Edwards
https://streamable.com/bjhclb
kids*
Pretty easy to not like him if you care about not supporting a piece of shit off the court
Don’t know anything about him off the court. Just saying as a fan of ball.
Well, on-the-court at least
on an injury too!
Ant is killer. Just needs a better 2nd option. Trade Randle for someone like JDub and the wolves are a championship team
No Spur shot better than 43% besides him, only one other Spur scored 15+ points…Moses.
Fucken carried
We getting the remastered version of the 2003 championship run.
Fox being replaced by Harper instead of Tony being replaced by Speedy Claxton is a big upgrade hahaha.
Yeah you right haha, maybe this is the 1999 remastered then.
Castle and Harper = Parker and Ginobli
And Fox may have hit 17 but his splits were 37/20/67
Wemby just ran an entire goddamn game. Both ends.
Fox is too inconsistent to be relied on day in day out
The last 2 games hes been key. Game 2 ge helped kick things off.. he kept them moving furing lulls and to close the game made some key baskets and free throws.
About the only one who shot great was Wemby
Need him tho
Fox was pretty crucial in the 2nd half and 4th quarter. Seems like Finch sold out on slowing down the guards and letting Victor beat the Wolves.
Castle getting to the FT line in the first half helped, then he fell off a cliff production wise, and Fox picked up some of the slack going 4⁄9 with 11 points to help. It was a gamble by Finch and luckily Victor brought his A game tonight
Fox is their stabilizer. Nothing big. Let’s other people get the highlights but he’s like the glue. Some big points down the stretch and the free throws down the stretch
Next level
Malone?
Excuse me sir but Carter GOAT Bryant & Luke The Kornmaze both shot 100% from the field thank you very much
Wemby’s having the best postseason debut since LeBron or Magic.
Tim Duncan wasn’t bad either, to be fair ahah.
Timmy’s playoff debut was similarly insane, must be something in the water down in San Antonio
Big
Ol
Women
ChuckDoubleFistingChurrosLookinSusAF.gif
Churros
Ooooo so close.
Women.
“Big ol *women*” is the answer we were looking for
Sone of the best quality water in the country thanks to the Edwards Aquifer in San Antonio.
i know its a homer take but i feel like booker’s first playoff run is underrated. led his team to the finals, 4 40+ pt games, a great overall playoffs that had him looking like a superstar. im not saying its in the top tier because he did have a few off games, but i do think its one of the best playoff debuts in recent memory.
It was definitely underrated, as it catapulted him into best SG/top-10 discussions, but Wemby’s is on a slightly different level, as it’s games like this where you realize he’s the best player pretty comfortably when you consider what he brings on the defensive end of the court - basketball is played on two ends of the court.
Credit to cp3 too. He made the other 3 starters look better than they are. All dropped off significantly after leaving the Suns
Better than LeBron
shh don’t say that yet
When you factor in defense…
31/8/6 in 2006? If he makes the finals maybe
Edit: Game 7 vs Detroit, LeBron had 27⁄61 Cavalier points. Lmao how offense has changed.
Stephon castle is so much better than his draft class it’s not even funny, what were the other top 3 picks doing
Sarr is good he’s just been stuck on a tanking team with no point guard to feed him easy buckets
He’s going to ball out next year I promise.
With trae no doubt
Agreed people don’t realize just how good Sarr has gotten yet but next year it’s gonna be really fun especially when y’all add in a top lottery pick too. Even if you drop outside the top 4 you still get a stud point guard for Sarr to grow with, it’s a win - win
The second best player is probably going to be Clingan.
Tbh, I think that UConn team might have been able to beat the Wizards.
I wanted spurs to draft him so bad. But seeing him in round 1 his touch needs a lot of work.
Sarr is pretty good tbf, also Sheppard obviously isn’t as good as Castle but he’s solid
Sheppard is the only SG who can neither shoot nor guard in these playoffs
Sheppard was streaky in the playoffs but to say he can’t shoot is pretty ignorant take
He’s not necessarily a bad defender either, he’s just short which makes him a bad matchup against tall teams
???
How could you think Sheppard is solid after watching these playoffs he literally got exposed and he looks like a little kid next to nba players
the third overall pick being, at best, a decent role player off the bench is pretty ridiculous. Its not like he was a mistake at 3 either.
And Risacher will be out of the league in a few years.
No he won’t, he’s 6’10, just turned 21 and his coach hates him
His coach hates him because he’s not good
Give him to us then for 2 2nds
only thing standing in the way of an OKC repeat
Knicks winning the ship you heard it first here Troy!
Big physical guards/wings do very well againsts OKC to stifle their offence and transition opportunities. Teams like Spurs, Detroit, and Portland all got fantastic POA wings.
Detroit played us well this season if I remember right.
Funny how OKC probably wants to play the Knicks and San Antonio would rather play Detroit if they get to the finals.
Wemby sucked the life out of the wolves crowd. Snatched their hearts. This is greatness.
Lets stop tanking but first let okc and the spurs aquire generational wealth fuck me this guy is disgusting why couldnt the wizards win the lottery dawg
They did not tank for Wemby lol. They tanked AFTER
Bro both okc and spurs did not tank.
Okc got SGA from trade
SA got Wemvp and Harper thru a lucky bounce.
SA had equal best chance odds for Wemby? Not saying they tanked they were just ass that year. Harper definitely lucky as tho
Wemby is so crazy man. What an absurd player I feel blessed to watch
“Are blocks really that valuable?”
“He compromises his position by blocking shots”
Motherfuckers
Shoutout that one spurs “fan” who had an entire post shitting on Fox at halftime. I swear there’s a certain section of spurs fans that would rather Fox be trash and us lose than Fox do good and us win just so they can be right about constantly crying about his contract
I’ve been an avid fox defender all season but this was pretty bad outing for him. Feels like every time we started to pull away he bricked a layup or chucked a bad 3 to let Minny come back
Fox is a volume scorer and he’s the only player fast enough to be able to get a shot no matter how good the defense is. He’ll have inefficient games but he’s there for a reason.
For sure which is why I don’t think we should be super eager to trade him the way a lot of spurs fans have been, but as the main team vet he’s gotta be more consistent especially in these tight games
I told my brother he was playing terrible from what i had watched. I missed game 2. But he stepped up in the 4th quarter im pretty sure.
Fox and Randle are kinda similar in that they kinda determine whether or not you have a chance to win if they’re competent or not
To be honest, if Fox made better decisions this game, this game would’ve been a lot more comfortable. It’s frustrating not because he sucks but because we know he can be way better. He’s good enough where he shouldn’t need Wemby to dominate the game to win.
He did play like shit though lol
Hold on now. He was just “sharing” Fox’ box score stats. 🤣
That fox contract is a disaster
Lmao please explain why. Did we let a star player or really good young player walk to sign Fox? Is he playing like hot garbage and being a net negative in the floor? Did signing him prevent us from getting another player or players that would’ve gotten us to this exact same result or better? Calling this a disaster shows you don’t know what a real disaster contract looks like
Loser got mad and blocked me LMAO
Yes he is playing like garbage, seriously wake up and watch the games. He’s terrible far more than he is good. You can’t actually be serious, even the biggest fox homers have given up. He’s a walking net negative
It’s not a great contract (every spurs fans know this) but is the contract hurting the team at the moment? Its not like they lost any assets trading for Fox either, i don’t think the spurs org are just bullshitting when they say how much Fox has helped the young guards this season.
I’ll not forget everyone calling wemby a fraud after game one
After his first preseason game no less
Kai Jones waiting on that HoF ballot
His worst game being a 12 block game is ridiculous lol
12 block triple double with 5 assists to boot lmao
As I’m not a prisoner of the moment I didn’t and only knee jerk reactionaries whose opinions on basketball should never be respected would say such a thing.
Hes the best in the world and im tired of pretending hes not. He warps the defense and is still an amazing offensive talent
He has a long way to go on the offensive consistency end to be considered the best
But his defense is beyond elite
His defense alone carries the team man, you don’t need him to drop 30 a game its crazy
They don’t need him to drop 30 a game, but look at what happened in G1. He played phenomenal defense but was 0/8 from 3, and they couldn’t pull off the win. He just needs to develop a little more on that end and he’ll be there
Not really develop, but just be consistent. When his offense is on, you couldn’t ask for more. It’s a guaranteed 40 points on 70% shooting. Just be more consistent and he should make his offensive floor higher.
Yeah I agree but that was an outlier
So true. You dont need thirty when you essentially stop the opposing team from scoring thirty in the paint
Feels like Castle snuck his way into that title
12 assists is pretty cool
How many went to Wemby? 😂
15
His defense was enough
Unbelievable performance. This will be remembered.
Reminder that three of four of the Spurs’ best players are aged 22, 21, and 20.
Offensively, he’s a monster. Defensively, he’s already goat level. Best player in the world, these playoffs are his coming out party of sorts to confirm it
Remember when people were flaming Wemby after one game when he had a triple double while setting the block record in the playoffs?
One of the best performance of all time I dare to say it.
Defensive and offensive masterclass, clutch in the fourth, good from long range, didn’t get fouled out despite a fourth foul early in the fourth quarter.
And he got mauled all games, it barely got called and he had a few awful calls against him too.
Absolute greatness.
I remember all the talk of Castle around the draft was “can he really run an offense. He’s going to have to develop a shot and play the 2 cause he doesn’t seem to be capable of being the primary passer”
I can’t believe the Spurs have Wemby.. and then Castle AND Harper
Yeah definitely very fortunate to get those high picks and even more fortunate that they seem to be hits so far
I agree he’s really good at running the offense, but somehow I think Harper is or will be better very soon, he’s so controlled, I’m extremely impressed, and also he’s really clutch and making hustle plays all over the place, we are blessed
I could believe it. Personally I’m more in the Castle camp but I think Castle has been on a very slight decline since all star break and Harper has hit a bit of a stride
I’m on both camps, I love both, but I think Dylan is just next level when it comes to his handle and just how he moves through traffic and makes good decisions, sometimes Castle is just like a freight train, but as I said, I love both, they are both dogs on defense and Castle is also a master baiter lol, which is funny as hell.
Edit: I mean rage baiter, not foul baiter, although he does foul bait a bit
I want that 1-2 punch here for years, and I hope we’re going to be able to keep them. “if I ain’t going around you, then this guy is going to go through you”. And then there’s Wemby.
This really feels like that OKC squad that ended up shipping harden due to costs of having three future MVPs
I bet you wemby will make it happen, I think he’s willing to take less even if he shouldn’t or is advised against
Besides Wemby everyone else gotta do better
MY GOAT
Alot of those buckets ON Gobert btw
He’s truly a much worse matchup for Gobert than Jokic. Gobert has found a way to at least lower the efficiency of Jokic’s spot up shooting, but Wemby will face Gobert up and snake around him on the dribble.
Wemby has been going against Gobert since he’s was a teenager he’s not afraid of Gobert
I don’t think Wemby has Gobert figured out completely yet. He’s improving for sure, but Gobert isn’t a come for him.
Yea but tbf Gobert had one block on Wemby lol. That’s the best you can hope for against him.
The goat.
It’s like the collective spirits of every NBA 2K MyPlayer ever combined together for a basketball immaculate conception. The guy’s player profile is so unlike anyone else who’s ever come before- it’s incredible to be able to watch.
I don’t play 2K anymore due to the micro transactions, but I’ve heard they nerf his ballhandling bad to balance the game.
He truly must give fits to the game designers (I’m sure Jokic does too tbh)
Yeah I don’t even think you can make a player that tall and skilled in 2k with the new restrictions they have depending on the build of your player.
There were really people on this planet who thought the Spurs were just as good without him
there are also people who think the world is flat. maybe they are what makes the world go around. just food for thought.
Not Wemby. He can see the curve of the earth at his height
So fucking good
This kids gonna be something special man
What’s crazy is that after every loss, he comes back stronger like a Saiyan.
Wemby’s a cheatcode man. What the fuck
Wemby just one TO. Playoff Wemby is insane.
First time watching a complete game of Wemby. Wow players didn’t even dare drive to the hoop when he’s on the court.
Steph has gravity, Wemby has anti-gravity.
He’s started playing mind games in the paint too… someone starts to drive and he’ll look away and pretend his attention is elsewhere giving people false hope. It’s insane.
Bro you’ve lowkey been missing out
Not Castle’s best offensive performance, but there were drives I wish someone would set a screen for him.
Still, he did his part on defense and dished out well.
Wemby is fucking special, man. He and Ant were battling this game, but Wemby, I’ve never seen a player like him ever.
Joins Hakeem, Shaq, and Kareem as the only players to have 35 PTS, 15 REB, 5 BLK in a playoff game. Doing this in his first postseason, too. Just wow.
Yea…yea…
Best player in the world moving forward regardless of who wins imo
I remember in the game thread someone thought Wemby was tired. And then he hit the closing time music.
He loves the bright lights, he thrives under THE moment, we need to cherish every moment we get to watch him on the court.
Ethical basketball and fun to watch unlike FTA
MVP
SGA could only dream of such a stat line 😂
Spurs won, the last thing you should be thinking about is sga
boy on your mind, been the goalpost all year
Imagine your team’s star player earning his points. Look at his stats. SGA is propped up 😂
my mvp is super fun to watch 😂 what a free throw merchant he attempted 12 fts
Honestly they should know by now hack-a-wemby won’t work
Don’t forget Wemby is still raw on offense
not the contribution it seems to be - Castle had a poor shooting night, and I’ll give Fox his flowers as he started 0/7 but ended 7⁄12, but at the end of the day Wemby willed this team to victory.
What a beast
If they make the Finals they’re absolutely gonna win it all
Aside from wemby the spurs ain’t all that
look at this guy. will you be saying the same thing if the spurs advance and the spurs overcome the thunder? where does that get you? and I’m not a thunder hater, relatively.
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Got a foul on him for getting thrown around by gobert btw
I’m not sure how anyone watches that game and comes away thinking about flopping. Both teams spent the whole game fouling the shit out of each other and having it most of it not called.
Was it inconsistently officiated? Sure. But flopping? No.
As a spurs fan, yeah he did. But also, he was getting mauled before with no calls, so I think he tried switching up his strategy to flopping and started getting calls. There was a point in the game where he flopped on gobert and they called it and the camera showed him laughing and smiling. I took that as “ok if that’s how the refs are playing it that’s how I’ll play”. So he continued flopping after that
Im tired of pretending this is a sga only thing. See fucking 7”10 wemby do the same thing and nobody gives a shit lol. You either like a player or dont. Let’s stop pretending its because of something everybody does.