Special thank you to Tony Brothers for giving Vic a tech and waking him up, he was sleepwalking before that and was beast mode the rest of the game

Worried Tre may be out again. He looked to be in serious pain when they were taking him to the locker room.

Great comeback, win, and play down the stretch. CP3 is so huge for this team.

phatbc said:

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Great comeback, win, and play down the stretch. CP3 is so huge for this team.

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Spurs are now 11-2 when leading in the 4th quarter. Their .846% winning is tied for 6th best in the NBA. https://t.co/kTQ6IAjmye

— Dan Weiss (@DanWeissPBP) December 2, 2024

Victor Wembanyama in the 4th quarter of tonight’s Spurs win over the Kings:

13 points
6 rebounds
4 assists
2 blocks

Only time in the last 20 years any player has posted those totals in a single fourth quarter.

— Jordan Howenstine (@AirlessJordan) December 2, 2024

LawHall88 said:

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Worried Tre may be out again. He looked to be in serious pain when they were taking him to the locker room.

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Just talked to Tre Jones. Says he has a sprain, no structural damage. He was in good spirits.

— Michael C. Wright (@mikecwright) December 2, 2024

Maybe not as bad as it seemed. Hopefully he only misses a few games. He as playing his best game last night.

Acting Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson calls out Victor Wembanyama’s poor fundamental play during the first three quarters of the Kings game but says he was able to step up in the fourth. Asserts that Victor is still young and coachable. #PorVida #NBA #Spurs #Kings pic.twitter.com/2dFWZPnSpp

— SpursRΞPORT (@SpursReporter) December 2, 2024

Pretty good analysis by Mitch.

jteagle said:

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Acting Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson calls out Victor Wembanyama’s poor fundamental play during the first three quarters of the Kings game but says he was able to step up in the fourth. Asserts that Victor is still young and coachable. #PorVida #NBA #Spurs #Kings pic.twitter.com/2dFWZPnSpp

— SpursRΞPORT (@SpursReporter) December 2, 2024

Pretty good analysis by Mitch.

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HE is really starting to grow on me. You can def see a lot of Pop's influence in how he answers questions with his measured pace and word choice. I also liked how he's not afraid to call out his superstars when they play like doo doo

This is hilarious.

Teams are petrified of Victor Wembanyama shooting the 3 ball 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/ifk4sk6C5M

— The Spurs Way (@zachmontana210) December 2, 2024

Perimeter defense landscape

⬆️Better at defending perimeter isolations

➡️Better at defending ball screens pic.twitter.com/QniR0QrltH

— BBall Index (@The_BBall_Index) December 2, 2024

If you look at Camara in the top middle, just below him is Champagnie and Castle. Both very highly rated on both axes.

Lakers cook us twice, then lose 80-109 to Minnesota on a night when Ant goes 3-13 for 8 points?

Victor Wembanyama has tied the record for most games in NBA history with 5+ threes and 3+ blocks. pic.twitter.com/XPVb5SPiYw

— Automatic (@automaticnba) December 2, 2024

He has played 1 full season and 1/4 of another.

ESPN's top players under 25. Suck it Ant.

https://theringer.com/2024/12/03/nba/nba-awards-2024-25-mvp-rookie-of-the-year-nikola-jokic

The Ringer quarter-season awards.

MVP: Joker
DPOY: Wemby
ROY: Castle
Most Improved Player: Franz Wagner
Sixth Man of the Year: Payton Pritchard
Coach of the Year: Ime Udoka
Most Unfortunate Offseason Move: Trading Away Karl-Anthony Towns
Most Confusing Team: The Sacramento Kings



Rookie of the Year: Stephon Castle

I wrote this a few weeks ago, but when gauging Castle's impact, efficiency is less important to me than all the other ways he helps his team win. Yes, Castle owns the eighth-worst true shooting percentage in the entire league. So what! The Spurs have a positive net rating when their first-year guard is on the court without Wembanyama and Chris Paul. Even in just a 177-minute sample size, that's mesmerizing. When all three share the court, the Spurs' net rating is +13.4. Incredible. Bottom line: This rookie is all about the team, knows how to win, and has demonstrated myriad rare qualities that prove he's a keeper.

He already knows how to take advantage of opponents who ignore him on the perimeter, too. In the play below, Castle probably knows he's going to rifle a pass back to Harrison Barnes in the weakside corner before he even starts his flash cut to the nail:

And over this 30-second stretch at the end of the first half in a win over the Kings, Castle puts his maturity on display, first decelerating at the rim to finish a fastbreak, then shrugging off a switch so he can block De'Aaron Fox's jumper, which ignites another transition opportunity and swings the entire game's momentum in San Antonio's favor:

His defense was at the center of two recent surprising victories against the Golden State Warriors and Oklahoma City Thunderover half his minutes are spent guarding either the opponent's first or second option, which leads all rookies. Overall, he leads all rookies in minutes and is third in true usage rate.

Castle isn't a no-brainer. All the honorable mentions listed below, and a few other rookies, are worthy of consideration, and there's a decent chance one of them will actually win it. But so far, when contextualized as the rookie who's done the best job not looking like a rookie in an important role for a competitive team, Castle is the guy.

Honorable mentions: Jared McCain, Dalton Knecht, Jaylen Wells, Zaccharie Risacher

San Antonio Spurs forward-center Victor Wembanyama and Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels have been named the Kia NBA Western and Eastern Conference Defensive Players of the Month, respectively, for games played in October/November, becoming the first recipients of the new award. pic.twitter.com/tDMp2T6wny

— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) December 3, 2024

Just now tuning in. My word that Cup court for the suns suuuucks. Steve Nash had it coming.

COUNT IT 😤 pic.twitter.com/4xYS8TVl1J

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) December 4, 2024

ST3PH 🎯 pic.twitter.com/U5Im1J2zBO

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) December 4, 2024

OH MAMA. pic.twitter.com/lFoy63MCdx

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) December 4, 2024

Spurs had 5 or 6 opportunities to blow this game open and they failed every time. Three ball not falling. Bad shot selection. And playing from behind again.

Just one of those games where they can't connect

Complete stinker of a game.

8-44 on 3s
35-100 on fgs

Missing 24 straight threes was probably a bad gameplan.

8-44 from 3 point line. I knew one of these games were going to happen soon. I'm not a fan of all 3 point shooting they have been doing. You miss 36 shots from 3 point land. Use some of that shooting from inside.

2008and1 said:

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8-44 on 3s
35-100 on fgs

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Barnes, Collins, and Paul went a combined 2-24.

Only bright spots were Devin, Castle, and Sochan.

All of Spurs twitter watching Sochan right now pic.twitter.com/Ut4KkfUkqu

— Pastor Blunt (@Jimbaker2resq) December 4, 2024

Sochan with 14/12/2/1/1 with 7 offensive boards in his game back.

As the prophecy foretold