What we learned from the Spurs loss to the Lakers

Today at 08:15 PM

Things to be grateful for

For whatever reason, I've always been fascinated by measurements. As a small child living in a farmhouse, I was frequently woken to the sound of hard rain on a tin roof. Sometimes I'd lay awake for hours listening to it. Not because I was scared of thunderstorms, but because I wanted to know how much it was raining.

Is the water pooling in the field rows? Has a stream formed at the end of the driveway? How many inches of rain have fallen now? How high is the water? Five feet high and rising?

In a state frequently affected by droughts, every inch of rainfall matters. It's a common refrain to say that Texas needs rain; farmers and ranchers alike are unlikely to complain, even when it falls in excess. Generally speaking, they're grateful.

That's the thing about rain, though: It's quantifiable. Gratefulness, on the other hand? I've had a harder time measuring that.

It's a foregone conclusion that the Spurs losing to the Lakers falls pretty low on my overall gratefulness scale. On the other hand, the Spurs have won ten games before the end of November for the first time in years, so that scores pretty highly.

How do you quantify gratefulness? It's a concept I struggle with in an era of social media-curated illusions of uninterrupted happiness. Measurement feels more important than ever, if for no other reason than to know where one stands.

The Spurs are winning games and I'm happy about that. How happy though? Could I be happier? It certainly feels like I could be.

Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes have helped elevate the trio of Victor Wembanyama, Stephon Castle, and Jeremy Sochan, in addition to the rest of the team, and I'm grateful for that. How grateful? Should I chart it on a scale of 1-10?

And how much have the Spurs actually progressed? Are they truly a play-in caliber team, or has this just been a hot streak against a bunch of tomato cans?

At some point, I think I'll have to accept that not everything is measurable — that I should just sit down, eat my pie, and learn to enjoy the moment.

Maybe I should just practice making lists instead.

Things To Be Grateful For

• Over the last 10 games Victor Wembanyama is averaging 30.7/10.6/3.7/3.4/1 on 42/53/79 shooting split. He's been everything Spurs fans could have hoped for.
• He also leads the league in every defensive metric for players under the age of 23 (and in several others, period).
• Stephon Castle is already 3rd on the team for Defensive Win Shares despite a lack of playing time earlier in the season (important to note Sochan has also been out).
• Chris Paul has a True Shooting Percentage of .621, the highest TS% of his entire career! While his ability to direct the offense has been revelatory, his relative offensive resurgence has been of equal importance, keeping him from becoming a net negative and helping create even more space for his teammates to operate.
• In addition to his other merits, Harrison Barnes is shooting a scorching 47% from three. If that continues for the rest of the season, it'll be a career-high by a considerable amount.

Playing You Out – The Theme Song of the Evening:

You Can't Measure The Cost by Bread