210XSpurs

Do it for the Gram.

Tough loss. The Spurs giving up that offensive rebound that led to the Brunson go-ahead three killed all the momentum they had after finally taking the lead in the 4th.

The good news is that the Spurs kept it close despite Wemby and Fox not playing well.

The bad news is that the Knicks can easily replicate their strategy in Game 2.

Keldon Johnson locked in and delivered his biggest performance in his first postseason.

Eight of his eleven points in the fourth quarter. Every single one of them was timely.

When Keldon is making plays and imposes his physicality the way we know he can, it energizes the entire team.

He's just one of those guys you just love to see do well.

I think Stephon Castle might have the best conditioning on this entire team.

On one end of the floor, he's defending the opponent's best scorer. And he does it without fading, without ever looking like he's running out of gas. He wants the smoke and he has the dogged mentality to get up in your jersey.

Then on the other end he's the primary distributor for a team that has Victor Wembanyama and De'Aaron Fox to feed. He's making decisions with the ball and making sure everyone is in the right spots. And on top of all that he gets to the free throw line six times a game this postseason. That means he is attacking, he is being physical, he is demanding contact, and he is doing it while carrying two of the hardest jobs on the floor simultaneously.

What I saw from Castle on the defensive end this series against SGA was truly special. We are going to be watching him earn a spot on the All-NBA Defensive First Team year after year alongside Wemby.

I compared him to Jrue Holiday on draft day, and some others compared him to Jimmy Butler. Looks like the latter was right.

Stephon Castle is a winning player. And this postseason is proving it.

When Harper left Game 2 with what looked like a hamstring injury, my heart sank. Luckily it ended up being an adductor instead of a hamstring. Not great, but much better news. But after he came back there were stretches in Games 3 through 5 where he clearly wasn't himself.

I saw the rookie never panic. Not once. Even when his leg was limiting him, even when his shot wasn't there, he never looked rattled, never looked lost, never looked like the moment was too big for him. That kind of poise is genuinely unheard of for a first-year player in the Western Conference Finals.

And then he got healthier and Games 6 and 7 showed you exactly what this kid is going to be.

The step-back dagger three in SGA's face in the fourth quarter. Come on man. A rookie hitting that shot in that moment, that's not something you can teach.

But the play I keep coming back to is the heads-up moment in Game 7 in the second quarter. Castle was about to go at Caruso over that hard foul and Harper, a rookie, calmly held him back. There’s a lot that could’ve potentially gone wrong there. He read the situation and understood what was at stake. If Castle gets ejected that changes the entire complexion of that game. Harper prevented it.

That's not just basketball IQ. That's maturity. That's leadership. And it reminds me of someone, the way Manu Ginobili used to change the momentum of a game in ways that never showed up in the box score.

Whatever Julian Champagnie gets on his next contract, it's going to be a lot more than $3 million a year.

Brian Wright signing Champ to that 4-year $12 million deal back in 2023 was like buying Palantir stock when it was $12 a share. You look back at it now and it was one of the smartest value acquisitions this front office has made.

Here's what I love about Champ. His shot wasn't falling for most of this series. But he didn’t disappear and he didn’t stop competing. He went after it attacking the basket on closeouts instead, trying to make something happen, refusing to go into his shell. And on the defensive end he was locked in.

He finally found his shot in Game 5 and he never looked back the rest of the series.

Then Champ hit six huge threes in Game 7. The moment would’ve been too big for a lot of players. It was not too big for Champ.

You could make the case that Devin Vassell was the most consistent Spurs player in the Western Conference Finals when it came to pure engagement on every possession.

He was everywhere. Deflections on drives. Tough rebounds in traffic. Tough defense on SGA, Chet and McCain. Timely baskets. You watch the games and he just never stops competing. Not for a single possession.

And then there's what he did to Chet. Everybody knows Wemby is Chet's number one opp. But Devin may have finished this series number two. The number of times he blocked his shot or altered it completely, then let him know about it afterward was something that gave me great joy to watch. He bothered him all series long.

When the Spurs were going through those rebuilding years, I didn't know Big Game Dev had that dawg in him. I liked him. I saw the physical tools. But I didn't know if he had the mentality that it takes to be a winning player when the stakes are this high. I know now.

And it's been one of the great joys of watching this team come together, seeing him grow into exactly that. A winning player. Someone who gets it.

If this Spurs team goes all the way and wins the championship this Kornet block on Hartenstein is going to be on that championship DVD.

There’s a lot of flowers to give out.

I’m going to start off with De’Aaron Fox. I don't even know where to start with this man. I thought his season was over after he re-aggravated his injury when Lu Dort rolled on his ankle in Game 3. Nobody would’ve had a problem with him sitting out the rest of the season after he tried to give it a go. But he came right back in the game five minutes later.

This is the kind of injury that has kept players out for weeks. Fox was out there competing at maybe 60% health, and you could see it affecting him physically but not mentally. When he missed the first two games, San Antonio had 21 turnovers in both Games 1 and 2.

Fox came back and the Spurs averaged 13 turnovers the rest of the series. That's not a coincidence. He's the reason everybody else's job is easier. He steadies the ship when it's rocking and makes sure you don't beat yourself before the other team even gets a chance to beat you.

And he did that last night. He had an answer for every run OKC made. Key baskets every time the Spurs started to lose control of the game.

This was the moment the Spurs brought him here for. This was the purpose of that trade, that extension, that commitment. And he delivered phenomenal results while being hurt. That deserves nothing but respect.

I don't want to see his name in another hypothetical trade scenario.

I don't want to hear Fox slander from anyone.

I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight. What a run it’s been for Wemby. He's really done a speed run this postseason, 4 years of playoff highs and lows in a single stretch.

Recap of his first playoffs:

1. 35 points on 13/21 shooting in his playoff debut, hitting 5 threes

2. Dramatic concussion in his 2nd ever game, looks clearly disoriented and has to leave the game.

3. Returns from concussion in his 3rd playoff game to drop 27/12/3/4/7 and is a +28 in a game they win by 21

4. Game 1 vs. Minnesota he has a awful performance offensively in a disappointing loss, but sets the playoff record for blocks in a single game and has a 11/15/12 triple double

5. Game 3 vs. Minnesota he goes for a ridiculous 39/15/5 and leads the Spurs to a tough victory on the road in a pivotal game.

6. Follows that up by elbowing the s**t out of Naz Reid and getting himself ejected in the first half of Game 4 .

7. WCF opener on the road he goes nuclear and has 41/24, hits one of the ballsiest shots you'll ever see in OT to tie the game, and then proceeds to totally take over in 2OT to steal game 1.

8. WCF game 4 he drops 33/8/5/2/3 playing only 31 minutes in a big game at home to even the series, was a +29 when they won by 31.

9. WCF game 5 biggest game of his career decides to lay the biggest dud of his postseason career and is mostly a complete ghost for the whole game. Also gets a warning from the league for skipping out on post-game media.

10. Responds with a 28/11 performance in his first elimination game.

11. Sets the tone early and leads the Spurs to a Game 7 win on the road against the defending champs.

The scariest part for the league, the Spurs aren’t even in their final form yet.

Fox has been amazing considering what’s he’s playing through. He’s a warrior. Even if he’s not scoring, his presence on the court clearly helps with keeping turnovers down on the overall team level. That’s huge, especially against OKC.

You can tell he’s not right out there, but he’s giving it everything he’s got. There’s only a few possessions where you can see his burst. His pain threshold has to be in the S-Tier. Props.

Just 60% of Fox has been invaluable in this series.