Game Thread: I35 Series Game One 2/20/25 Phoenix Suns (26-28) "@" Spurs (23-29) 8:30P CT / 4:30P HST / 4:30A RIGA

[Guru of Nothing]

Because the games against Suns, Lakers and Rockets should always be played to win.
*Mavs not on the list because they don't matter anymore, dead franchise.

I would include OKC too. Starting next season Spurs need to assert themsleves in this budding rivalry. Spurs are 2-4 against OKC in the Wemby era.

[Leetonidas]

only caught the last 6 minutes of the game. fox really put the game away. possession after possession they couldnt do anything about it

So nice to have a legit closer again. He had a tough shooting night before then but really delivered in crunch time

[scott]

Well, just finished watching the game a little earlier. Didn't expect a win. As I thought, Spurs were going to try and make a huge push for the playoffs before the news of Victor being out. Seems like they're still going to try and do this. Don't know, maybe a bit early to say.
As I said earlier today, though, tanking is bad and they have to start holding players accountable and not letting them develop a losing mentality. I'm just not sure this group of guys is it, as all the losing the previous years maybe have played a part in them being so bad towards knowing what to do to win games.
I would rather a good draft pick, but again, I'd rather they play very hard and try and win. If they lose in that scenario, all good. Looks like Fox is making a difference at the end of games being able to get to the rim and make plays for others and/or himself.

Also, why is Castle not starting? How many minutes did he get tonight? He's not even closing the games much the past week or two of the regular season (less minutes in the 4th).

a lot is to be said about the mentality of a losing team vs a winning team. Since 2019, we have had a losing culture. We are the only western conference team since that span to not make the playoffs.
If the coaches play to lose, the losing mentality will continue because that is the culture that has been created.
Players need to become frustrated, need to hate losing, and that will only happen by winning.

But with that said, that was just one game. Probably simply an emotional game because of the wemby news and the guys played well against a mediocre team. So we still likely lose enough games to get a decent draft pick anyways.

But if i had to choose, I would choose win. We need to develop a winning a mentality.

Good posts. Fans fall in love with the idea of extra ping pong balls, but there is a cost to all this tanking, and the longer the tank rolls on the more necrotic rot you have to chop off your roster. We have guys like Keldon and Vassell who have been here awhile and all they know is losing, and I think that's a part of why they aren't thriving as players and get sucked into playing losing basketball. Maybe these guys can be salvaged, but it's not going to be by further tanking. Force them into some structure, playing basketball the right way, hold them accountable, etc. It was hilarious seeing the guy on a 10-day contract having to get on Vassell's ass for not knowing what he was supposed to be doing. Win or lose the rest of the way, let's just have more of that.

z0sa said it best in one of these threads... I'm on team go with the flow at this point. If we decide to shut down Fox, buy out CP3, and play Branham a bunch to tank... fine so long as we understand that these career losers will need to be jettisoned before we can start winning again. Go out out and play hard for wins but fall short? Sure, let's do it. There is value in that even without Wemby. Go super try hard and make the play-in? I'm down for it. That's a great foundation to build off of when Wemby returns next year.

[heyheymymy]

that was Biyombo's last game. We'd have to resign him first.

Glad to see they did renew another 10 day with him. Nothing crazy but I liked what I saw enough to keep on a little longer. Was wondering if the team had other ideas elsewhere (buyout market?) but they had to do something with how barren our bigs depth was

[TekXX]

What channel is the game on locally?

[TekXX]

Found it on kens