Hidden gems from the Spurs’ loss to the Thunder

How is Bran Stark the king Westeros needs?

The last time the Spurs won a title, I was living in Dallas, Texas. I moved to San Antonio one year later, and the Spurs haven’t won a title since. I recently moved back to the DFW area, and this is important because before April 8, 2024, the last prime location for a solar eclipse was in San Antonio, TX on October 14, 2023. I moved to Dallas a month later, and—guess what—my place of residence was in the path of totality here on April 8, 2024.

All of this is to say, there is a correlation, nay causation, between me living in Dallas (far away from my tacos and my Spurs) and the Spurs winning a title. Just you wait. The O’Brien is coming back to San Antonio. For those of you who cannot wait, take solace in the few highlights of the Spurs’ loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

For one, Zach Collins made the most of his opportunity due to multiple Spurs starters held out of this game due to injury. Collins led the team with 20 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. Sidy Cissoko took advantage of a season-high in minutes to contribute 14 points and 5 rebounds from the bench. RaiQuan Gray had himself a night scoring 13 points in only 12 minutes.

I appreciate a good touch pass like Larry David appreciates avoiding most social interactions. Here, RaiQuan Gray did not avoid feeding Sidy Cissoko for the and-1 basket. This reminds me that I need to remind my wife to watch the final season of Curb Your Enthusiasm with me, or I’ll torture her with a watch of the final season of Game of Thrones with me.

Clearly Malaki Branham has been watching Tony Parker tear drop highlights because this droplet of a bucket was a mirror of Parker’s patented paint points. Speaking of which, my friend and fellow Pounding the Rock writer, Devon Birdsong, had a few good nuggets on Twitter (X) regarding Tony Parker’s perpetual underratedness (my made-up word, you’re welcome). I encourage you to spam his thread.

Tre Jones lobbing it up for Zach Collins. Jones had a team-high 7 assists for the night. For his part, the Spurs’ point guard continues to lead the team in assists, averaging 6.1 for the season.

Julian Champagnie rounded the corner and decisively slammed it home. Champagnie has recently been on a good run, playing heavy minutes and averaging 15 over his last four games coming into Wednesday’s match-up. With two games left in the season, the young forward will look to showcase his skills heading into next season. Plus, he has the same birthday as yours truly so that’s always fun!

Sharing is caring. And these (very) young Spurs proved to be very selfless. A season like this won’t often be remembered, but the first crack at that rock has to being somewhere. Playing unselfish team basketball should be carried into the next season and beyond thanks to the good hustle and good vibes set by these players.

If you missed the game because you were too busy planning a trip for the next solar eclipse, here are the full-game highlights:

Next up, the Spurs head home to take on the Denver Nuggets on Friday, April 11, 2024.