The San Antonio Spurs will probably be on the second recreation of a back-to-back after a tricky win towards the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night time. The Spurs wanted a fourth-quarter comeback to take down Toronto, and can now be on brief relaxation towards the Brooklyn Nets.
Brooklyn and San Antonio’s information are nearly precisely flipped: the Spurs are chasing the number-one seed within the West, and the Nets want to safe the number-one decide within the draft. Brooklyn is on a five-game dropping streak, whereas the Spurs have received ten video games in a row. On paper, this can be a recreation the Spurs ought to win handily, however something can occur on a back-to-back on the highway.
San Antonio beat Brooklyn 118-107 of their dwelling opener earlier this season. Rather a lot has modified for the Nets since then. Thrilling younger gamers like Nolan Traore and Drake Powell have emerged, and Cam Thomas, who scored 41 factors towards the Spurs earlier this season, will not be on the group. The Nets have sufficient expertise to make issues attention-grabbing, but when the Spurs proceed their streak of stellar play, they need to be on their technique to an 11-game profitable streak.
February twenty sixth, 2026 | 6:30 PM CT
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Spurs Accidents: Launched by 1 pm CT.
Nets Accidents: Tyson Etienne – Out (G League), Chaney Johnson – Out (G League), E.J. Liddell – Out (G League), Josh Minott – Questionable (G League), Ben Saraf – Out (G League)
The blueprint for guarding Victor Wembanyama today is straightforward: be as bodily as potential and don’t let him get into any place. It’s the defensive model that the Detroit Pistons and Raptors used to gradual him down within the Spurs’ final two wins. Brooklyn has the mandatory bigs to enact this technique on Thursday night time. Nic Claxton is a robust, imply defender inside, and Day’Ron Sharpe is an efficient inside defender and rebounder. This will probably be one other good check for Wembanyama towards a bodily entrance court docket.
The Nets are a younger group that makes younger group errors. They don’t actually have a real level guard in addition to Traore (who is just a rookie), so they have a tendency to show the ball over loads. The Nets cough it up 15.5 instances per recreation. San Antonio’s aggressive perimeter protection with Wembanyama patrolling the paint ought to give them a bonus towards the younger Nets. Search for De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Citadel to get out into the passing lanes early to assist the Spurs construct a lead.
Devin Vassell’s taking pictures
Vassell has been purple sizzling currently. He adopted his 28-point night time towards Detroit with a 21-point efficiency towards the Raptors on Wednesday. The wing has shot 12-17 from three in these two video games. Vassell has been making the most of groups overindexing on Wembanyama, or attempting to remove driving lanes from the Spurs’ guards. He’s gotten a ton of open appears and is making groups pay. Look ahead to San Antonio to get Vassell concerned early as he appears to maintain his sizzling streak going towards Brooklyn.
