Every time a crew’s star participant is unavailable for a sport, how the remainder of the crew performs is an effective barometer for the state of the roster. In Saturday evening’s case, the Spurs couldn’t pull out the win, however fared respectable towards the Warmth whilst they have been with out their finest participant as properly. Keldon Johnson led the crew with 19 factors coming off the bench whereas Devin Vassell scored 18 factors. Charles Bassey put in work on the boards to the tune of 15 rebounds filling in for Victor Wembanyama.
Regardless of the loss, the Spurs churned out some highlights as an appetizer for his or her upcoming annual Rodeo Highway Journey.
Stephon Citadel out right here simply warming up for the slam dunk contest. I give it a 7.5/10 general: 9/10 for energy and shock worth, 6/10 for creativity. It will likely be fascinating to see how Citadel distinguishes himself and whether or not he can finally win the competition. After all of the “excessive flying” Spurs have had solely 3 gamers rep their laundry within the contest (Edgar Jones, Johnny Dawkins, and Cadillac Anderson).
Right here, Jeremy Sochan is displaying off his pirouette expertise as he finds Chris Paul for the open three. Sochan continues to return off the bench because the Spurs don’t appear to be in any hurry to insert him again into the beginning lineup.
Devin Vassell discovered vacant land as Zach Collins discovered him for the open jam. Vassell didn’t have the very best taking pictures evening, however his scoring effectivity ought to hopefully return to kind quickly because the fifth 12 months participant seems to get near final season’s career-high 19.5 factors per sport.
There are three sure issues in life: taxes, Lakers pulling off a loopy lopsided commerce, and me gushing about Stephon Citadel’s mature sport as a rookie. Who doesn’t love a fantastic bounce cross in site visitors to seek out your man for a simple dunk.
This slow-mo clip of Sandro Mamukelashvili’s reverse layup is so hypnotizing, I’m fairly positive the Mavericks’ GMs have been watching it on repeat whereas hammering out the commerce that despatched Luka Doncic to L.A. for Anthony Davis, a 2029 first spherical draft choose, and a one-year subscription to Netflix (with out advertisements!).
For the general vibe of this crew, typically it’s important to have the gamers run their offense off of one another with out counting on a once-in-a-lifetime-unicorn-extraterrestrial-talented-super-easy-to-root-for celebrity. This ball motion no matter who’s working the ground, was a sight to see.
What number of hours do you assume Chris Paul is spending instructing Stephon Citadel the way to completely lob a basketball to a dunker? Nonetheless a lot it could be, looks as if Citadel is a fast learner. The rookie is averaging 3.6 assists, however it does appear to be he may have the next ceiling for dimes as he will get an increasing number of snug within the NBA.
In the event you missed final evening’s sport since you have been too busy choosing your jaw off the bottom, listed here are the full-game highlights:
Subsequent up, the Spurs head out for his or her annual Rodeo Highway Journey with their first cease in Memphis to tackle the Grizzlies on Monday, February 3, 2025.
