Look Ahead: Spurs Versus Elite Teams in the 2022-23 Season
Devin Vassell and the Spurs will have their hands full in the 2022-23 season (Photo via Twitter)
The San Antonio Spurs will face one of the most difficult regular season schedules in the 2022-23 NBA season. In fact, it may very well be the NBA’s most difficult schedule. After two relatively easy games, the schedule gets really difficult, really fast for San Antonio. Here’s a closer look at when the Spurs will take on the best teams in the association.
San Antonio Spurs versus Boston Celtics
The Spurs take on the Celtics in San Antonio on January 8th and in Boston on March 27th. The Celtics lost to the Golden State Warriors in the 2022 NBA Finals but many prognosticators are predicting that Boston has the best odds to win the championship in this upcoming season.
The game in Boston will be the eighth to the last game of the season for the Spurs. If they’re making a push for the playoffs, that’ll be a very difficult game to win. In the more likely scenario that the Spurs are trying to improve their draft position, that’s a game that will almost certainly go in the loss column.
San Antonio Spurs versus Golden State Warriors
Stephen Curry and the Warriors won championships in 2015, 2017 and 2018 in addition to last season. Curry will go for ring number five in the 2022-23 season. If the Warriors come out on top again, Curry along with Klay Thompson and Draymond Green will have as many titles as Tim Duncan and the Spurs organization.
San Antonio will play Golden State three times this season. On November 15th, the Spurs go on the road to face the Warriors. San Antonio’s lone home game against the defending champs is January 14th.
San Antonio Spurs versus Milwaukee Bucks
The Bucks, winners of the 2021 NBA championship, travel to South Texas to take on the Spurs on November 12th. The Spurs play their game in Milwaukee against the Bucks on March 23rd. The former is San Antonio’s 13th game of the season, while the latter is the tenth to the last game of the season.
Last season, the Spurs actually played the Bucks twice in October. San Antonio lost the first game at home by a final score of 121-111. However, in one of their best games of the season, the Spurs went to Milwaukee and beat the Bucks on Halloween night, 102-93. Dejounte Murray, now of the Atlanta Hawks, led the way for the Spurs with 23 points and nine assists.
San Antonio Spurs versus Phoenix Suns
The Suns lost to the Bucks in the 2021 NBA Finals. Last season, they suffered a demoralizing loss against the Dallas Mavericks in the second round of the playoffs despite winning the first two games of the series against the Mavs and finishing the regular season with an NBA-best record of 64-18.
This coming season, the Spurs and Suns will battle three times in the regular season. The first two contests will take place in San Antonio: December 4th and January 29th. The third game will be April 5th in Phoenix. Arizona sports betting is now legal so don’t miss out on the three times the Spurs and Suns play this season.
San Antonio Spurs versus Los Angeles Clippers
After missing the entire 2021-22 NBA season with a partially torn ACL, Kawhi Leonard is expected to rejoin the Clippers for the upcoming season. The superstar played for the Spurs from the 2011-12 season until he demanded a trade following the 2017-18 campaign. While with the Spurs, Leonard was a two-time All-Star who won Defensive Player of the Year twice and was the 2014 Finals MVP after the Spurs defeated the Miami Heat to win the championship.
In the 2022-23 season, the Spurs and the Clippers will face off four times. Leonard and the Clippers come to San Antonio on November 5th. Later in the month, the Spurs go to Los Angeles to take on the Clippers on November 20th. On January 21st, the Spurs and Clippers will battle in San Antonio. In the fourth and final affair, the Spurs play the Clippers in L.A. on January 27th.
San Antonio Spurs versus Los Angeles Lakers
Despite missing the playoffs last season, the Lakers are expected by prognosticators to contend in the 2022-23 campaign. On paper, the Lakers roster led by LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook looks like a legitimate threat. Then again, the same could be said prior to last season.
Interestingly, the Spurs and Lakers will play three times in the span of a week in late November. On November 21st, the Spurs go to Los Angeles to take on the Lakers. The Spurs then play the New Orleans Pelicans before taking on the Lakers in a pair of back-to-back games in San Antonio on November 26th and November 27th. On January 26th, the Spurs and Lakers play in Los Angeles for the fourth and last time of the 2022-23 regular season.