What We Learned from the Spurs win over the Celtics

The vibe was off from the start in this one. It almost felt like there had been too much buildup for it. Too much momentum for it not to go a little sideways.

“Two title contenders squaring off!”

“Possible Finals preview!”

“Jayson Tatum continuing his incredible return!”

“Wembanyama making an MVP push!”

“The two hottest teams in the league on NBC Coast-to-Coast Tuesday!”

And then, of course, what are we all talking about this morning? That’s right. Bam Adebayo dropping 83 on the Wizards. Sure!

It’s not that Spurs vs. Celtics was a bad game. It was actually pretty entertaining once everything settled in. It just felt… off. Like watching two dance partners who couldn’t quite decide who was leading. Everything just a little bit out of step.

I was antsy the whole time watching this. More concerned with how everything looked and what it meant than what was actually happening on the court. It’s like I can feel the eyes of people outside our specific fan Circle of Trust now trained on the Spurs, trying to figure out what the deal is. Trying to poke holes in the plan. Trying to take the air out of it.

Every time we missed a shot or turned the ball over I kept alternating between a feeling somewhere between slight panic and mortification. Boys, how could you embarrass me like this? We have company! I just cleaned in here! Please stop missing corner threes in front of Mike Tirico.

And before you start with me, just trust me: I understand that I’m being ridiculous. This is not a cool or groovy way to watch sports. It’s not a cool or groovy way to do anything.

The Spurs are in the middle of one of the most fun stretches of basketball we’ve seen in almost a decade. The vibes around this team are basically perfect. The ball is flying around. Victor Wembanyama is somehow exceeding expectations. The young guys are growing up in real time. If you sat down in October and tried to draw up the exact emotional temperature you’d want around the team right now, it would look almost exactly like this.

And yet there I was the whole night, sitting on the couch sweaty and nervous. I was mad when Jaylen Brown got ejected because of what it might mean for the narrative if they lost to a shorthanded Celtics team at home. I was frustrated we were tied at the half. I was annoyed at how many threes we were taking.

The threes were going in and I was annoyed about it. What even is that, you guys?

I mean, the Spurs won this game. By a lot! Against a really good team! And I’m sitting here spilling my guts about how miserable I was the whole time. Stupid!

But I also have a suspicion I’m not alone in this. Like most things in sports, it taps into something a little deeper in the human condition. That strange feeling of finally getting the thing you’ve been begging for and immediately wondering what’s wrong with it is familiar to anyone who’s been around the block a few times. One day you look around and realize you’re standing in a beautiful house with a beautiful wife and you may ask yourself, well… how did I get here?

Same as it ever was.

It’s just such an easy trap to fall into. You spend all of high school trying to get into college and then you’re there. Now what? You spend all of college worrying about trying to get a job and then you get one. Now what? You spend months training for a marathon and then you cross the finish line. Now what?

I think we might just be bad at enjoying things in the moment. The planning, the chase, the hunt… that’s what drives us. That’s what gives the whole thing meaning. Actually sitting there with what we’ve got feels strange. Lazy, almost. Like if we stop swimming for even a second we might sink.

It doesn’t seem particularly healthy.

I don’t think the Spurs are guilty of it, even if the guy writing this clearly is. A very lovable, if not relatable, thing about this team right now is that they really do seem to be living in the moment. They’re staying within themselves. They’re focused on each game as it comes and taking it in stride. They’re having fun out there.

You watch them after the game, all of them peer-pressuring Mason Plumlee into doing the drum thing, and suddenly everything else feels kind of silly. All the stress. All the anxiety. All the little narrative traps my brain spent the night worrying about.

It’s just noise. Mostly self-generated.

The Spurs, meanwhile, just went out and beat the Celtics. Seemed like they had fun, too.

Probably should give that a try.

Takeaways

• A thing I do against my better judgment is listen to Tim Bontemps on The Hoop Collective wring his hands about Victor Wembanyama’s shot profile. He has this whole thing where he’s very against the idea of Vic taking a high volume of threes. In Bontemps’ ideal world, Wembanyama is finishing at the rim, living in the paint, and generally filling his diet with higher-percentage looks instead of bombing away from the perimeter. I get annoyed when he goes on these rants largely because… I kind of agree with him. Part of it is that my brain still can’t fully wrap itself around the concept of someone that tall playing like a guard. And part of it is just a very simple instinct that kicks in whenever I watch him float around the three-point line: yo man, you’re seven-foot-four. Go dunk it, brother. Please trust that I do not enjoy agreeing with Tim Bontemps on this.
• Last night was a weird test case for those of us in the “maybe fewer threes?” camp. Of Wembanyama’s twenty shot attempts, fifteen of them were from beyond the arc. Fifteen! That’s almost the exact shot profile Bontemps is so annoying about. The good news is that he made eight of them. The problem is that he made eight of them. What am I supposed to do with that? It’s undeniably cool when he’s raining threes like that, but I also can’t quite shake the feeling that we’re getting away with something. Like the basketball gods are quietly watching this happen and making a note for later. Because without a doubt, there are going to be playoff teams that are perfectly happy to let him launch from out there and live with the consequences.
• I think, overall, Vic’s game last night didn’t really feel like it was built on him just “falling back” or “settling” for threes all night. A lot of those looks came within the flow of the offense. Catch-and-shoot opportunities, pick-and-pop actions, that sort of thing. The Celtics were clearly trying to keep him out of the paint, and the Spurs were more than happy to let him drift out and punish that choice. He also got to the line a bunch, so it’s not like he was allergic to attacking the basket when the opportunity was there. I don’t know. Look, these are good problems to have. Maybe I should stop worrying about it. How about that?
• De’Aaron Fox is, somehow, quietly just out here steering this whole operation along. He’s kind of perfect for what the Spurs need, isn’t he? He doesn’t seem to want or need the spotlight. He can pour it in when necessary, but he’s just as comfortable orchestrating things and keeping the whole machine running smoothly. He’s poised, he doesn’t make many mistakes, and he’s constantly plugging little holes all over the floor. I’m honestly a little flabbergasted at how cleanly this has worked out. Think about all the hundreds of names that were floated over the last couple of years for players the Spurs absolutely had to pair with Wembanyama in order to not squander his potential. And somehow the guy who fits like a glove is De’Aaron Fox. Fancy that.
• I don’t know if it’s just because he’s left handed, but there’s an angle on some of Fox’s three point shots that almost looks like he’s spinning a curveball into the basket. The thing gets to the rim and just like whips down. It’s bizarre and kind of gives me a little jump every time.
• The only thing I have to say about Jaylen Brown’s ejection is:

WWL Post Game Press Conference

– Have you ever been ejected from something you were writing?

– Oh sure, I get tossed all the time?

– Wait, really? Like you got two technicals and had to stop writing?

– For sure. Happens more than you’d think. I’ll be in the middle of making a truly excellent point and some ref will come barging into my office blowing his whistle and shouting something like, “PASSIVE VOICE!” And of course I can’t just let that slide, so I get right in his face and say, “You think THAT was passive voice? That? Are you serious? THAT’S THE LEAST PASSIVE THING I’VE EVER SAID! IF YOU WANT PASSIVE, I’LL GIVE YOU PASSIVE.”

– Ok. And that…helps?

– Almost never, the refs hate when you get in their face like that.

– Does someone usually have to hold you back?

– Yeah, PTR has security teams on the bench that come out. Sometimes Marilyn has to step in, calm things down, tell me to go take a breather, and then she finishes my… ahem… discussion. It’s all part of the game.

– What happens when you get tossed though? Does someone else finish the column?

-Yeah, we’ll bring someone off the bench. Usually it’s pretty seamless. But if you’ve ever been reading something I wrote and thought, “not his best work,” you can probably assume a biased ref with an agenda sent me to the locker room early.