Highlights: Harrison Barnes turns back time against the Mavericks

03/11/2025 11:25 AM

Have not, want not

Two proud franchises battled it out without their generational, once-in-lifetime, international superstars (I'm really not trying to pour salt on the Mavs' wounds, just still really shocked that trade actually happened in real life). The snake-bitten rivals from the north side of I-35, however, did not go quietly into the Texas sunset (an extra hour's worth!). Harrison Barnes led all players with 29 points while Devin Vassell chipped in 24 points. Stephon Castle and Keldon Johnson each scored 14 and 28, respectively to lead the Spurs bench.

Harrison Barnes called up Father Time (or slid into his DMs as today's kids' parents say these days—I think Gen Alpha has moved on to weirder lingo) and told him to hold off as the wily forward uncorked a season-high veintinueve on a scorching 12 -14 from the field and a Carolina Reaper-esque 4 - 6 from downtown. Man was just on fire.

I mean does this look like the knees of a grizzled NBA veteran that's playing in his 13th season? No, it looks like the springy knees of Tim Duncan in his 18th season but after mainlining some Da Bomb hot wings for that extra kick (note: First We Feast is not a sponsor, but I wouldn't say no if I had that authority—which I don't. I checked.).

It was so clairvoyant of me to declare Stephon Castle as bona fide rookie of the year candidate way back when the season first started, just like back when the season first started I correctly predicted that the Mavericks would trade Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers for Antonio Davis and ah never mind—no one would ever believe that.

If you slow this sequence down 1.5x, it looks like Keldon Johnson, Sandro Mamukelashvili, and Devin Vassell each took turns running into a rubber wall of defenders and bouncing the ball backwards until KJ drains the jumper.

Devin Vassell danced his way into the paint for this tough two. The swingman is enjoying an offensive renaissance in his last 6 games, scoring in the double digits and averaging 19.8 during that span.

De'Aaron Fox smoothly glides up high for the dunk. Fox's recent peformances have been muted in his last few games, but the star guard will certainly look to build as much chemistry with his new teammates as possible for the rest of the season.

Sure, Vassell makes a cradle shot into the basket and the crowd goes wild, but I try the same thing with my wife's potted Monstera and suddenly I'm no longer allowed around her "precious babies."

I am a bad, uninformed Spurs fan because I did not realize Fox is left-handed. I had to ask my Google Home device "Is De'Aaron Fox left or right handed" interrupting my daughter's stream of Disney songs, which she was not happy about.

It was worth her brief anger to confirm my suspicions after seeing Fox throw a frozen rope across the court to an open Castle.

If you missed the game because you were too busy spam-emailing Sean Evans to invite Tim Duncan to the next episode of "Hot Ones," here are the full-game highlights:

Next up, the Spurs remain at home to play (wait for it) the Dallas Mavericks again! The rematch occurs on Wednesday, March 12, 2025.