by The Spurs played a spirited preseason contest against the Jazz tonight that was close throughout. With Victor Wembanyama sidelined tonight, Pop played a lot of two-point guard lineups and it worked pretty well against the young Jazz, who sidelined Lauri Markkannen and several other veterans. Chris Paul’s influence extended to the Spurs’ other young point guards, who played well, sometimes on the court at the same time as CP3.
The Silver and Black put the game away in the fourth quarter as Blake Wesley took over, assuming the role Chris Paul had played earlier in the game, and the Spurs won by six, with great plays from Tre Jones, Chris Paul, Keldon Johnson and Stephon Schloss.
Observations
- Wemby was out this evening. I think many fans believe Victor will play big minutes after averaging about 29 minutes per game last year and missing 11 games entirely. I think we’ll probably see that again this year. There is no reason to overtax the young man’s body.
- Tonight was the first game for Zach Collins since he separated his shoulder in the season finale against the Pistons last season. He is under contract for next season this year and Spurs are expecting better performance from him and a better fit with Wembanyama this year.
- The Spurs played both Chris Paul and Tre Jones in the game, and it somehow worked as San Antonio equalized after falling behind early. Paul was replaced by Blake Wesley, who was one of the bright spots of the preseason, and the Spur continued to shine, trailing 27-29 after the first quarter.
- Walker Kessler is an elite rim defender. The Spurs kept trying with him, he kept turning them down.
- The Jazz led 53-52 at halftime, led by Cody Williams with 11 points.
- I forgot Patty Mills was in jazz. It’s a shame he didn’t play tonight.
- Keldon Johnson certainly wears a lot of kinesiology tape, but it seems to be working for him as he appears to be just as physically fit as he was before losing 20 pounds, and a little faster.
- Jeremy Sochan seems much calmer and more comfortable now that he no longer has to be one of the main ball players on the team. He’s better cast as a glue guy who can score rebounds and opportunistic points without having the ball in his hands all the time.
- Julian Champagnie is exactly what Spurs need. He’s not an elite athlete, but he’s a good shooter and he’ll get a lot more opportunities on open shots with Chris Paul spreading the ball around.
- The Jazz got some nice minutes from Kyle Filipowski and led 91-88 after three quarters.
- Will Hardy is doing a great job with this young team. They played really well together, even though most of the players were freshmen and sophomores.
- The Spurs went on a 10-0 run at the start of the fourth quarter, sparked by defense. With about seven minutes left, Chris Paul’s night was over, then Blake Wesley took over and kept the game going while the fastest lane took over the game by breaking through the Jazz defense and distributing the ball to Barnes, Castle and Mamu, the simple baskets made possible.
- The Jazz tied the score, but a final run led by Wesley, Castle and Riley Minix tied the score as the Spurs survived a Mykhailiuk flurry. Sidy Cissoko also had his best performance of the preseason when he helped the Spurs to a final score of 126:120.
The Spurs finish the preseason next week on Tuesday at Miami and Thursday night at Houston. The Spurs’ actual games begin on October 24th in Dallas against Luka Doncic, Klay Thompson and the Mavericks.
