What we learned from the Spurs loss to the Magic

02/09/2025 11:36 AM

It may be time to reconsider expectations in San Antonio.

The San Antonio Spurs have experienced two heartbreaking losses over Super Bowl weekend. First, the game with the Hornets and now a 112-111 loss to the Orlando Magic. You could argue that they should have won both games by more than single digits.

The Magic were quicker to 50-50 balls, abused the Spurs on the offensive glass, and dominated them in the paint. Sound familiar? Those are the same issues that allowed Charlotte to take home a win on Friday. The Magic outscored the Spurs 56-34 in the paint and grabbed 13 offensive rebounds against the Spurs. Yes, Orlando is a bigger, more physical team, but those issues can't come up in back-to-back games.

You can make a lot of excuses for the Spurs right now. The rodeo road trip is hard. It's even harder to integrate another key piece in De'Aaron Fox during that stretch. It's clear that Victor Wembanyama is dealing with some sort of illness or conditioning issue that has him looking much different than he has for the majority of the season. They are limping to the All-Star Break with just two games left to go.

While all these points are valid, they don't make up for the fact that San Antonio has dropped to 13th in the Western Conference behind the Portland Trail Blazers and find themselves three games out of the 10 seed. The Spurs' play-in dreams are slipping with this stretch of bad play, and it may be time to reconsider expectations for this team.

The bright side – San Antonio has two key building blocks, two potential lottery picks in a loaded draft, and young players like Stephon Castle, Jeremy Sochan, and Devin Vassell who have made improvements this season. Yes, this stretch of play is frustrating and hurts their chances of making a playoff push, but the Spurs are still better than last year and are in a prime position to improve moving forward.

Takeaways:

• Orlando is one of the best defensive teams in the NBA. They make their hay with length and physicality on the wings and inside. Jonathan Isaac created so many issues for the Spurs' guards by clogging driving lanes and pressuring on the ball. When Jalen Suggs plays it's even harder for teams. I think the Spurs can try to emulate a lot of what the Magic do defensively moving forward. Finding long, athletic wings who can cause havoc defensively to play alongside Fox and Wembanyama feels like a strong roster-building goal.
• Harrison Barnes is the most fun Spurs role player since? His first-quarter explosion was a joy to watch. He had 18 points on 6 three-pointers coming out of the gate. Then it felt like he never found shots in the game flow. This is likely a credit to the Magic adjusting. It would have been nice to see a few more plays drawn up for the hot hand after such a good start.
• I've seen some complaints about the play call on the final possession of the game. Look, if you can get a guard to switch on to your 7-foot-4 big man in a high post isolation, I think you take that result nine times out of ten. Maybe Wembanyama needs to find a better go-to move there, but the logic behind getting him the ball there is sound. There is probably a much different consensus around the play if the ball goes in.
• Vassell has turned things up a notch in the last two games. He's thrived in the "third option" role with more defensive attention given to Fox and Wemby. He's been able to spend more time coming off screens, nailing shots in the mid-range and from three. He's more aggressively getting downhill. His 25-point night was super efficient as he shot 11 of 14 from the field. It would be great to see more of this from him moving forward.
• Castle is a beast. He may not be a complete player yet, but he makes more grown-man moves to the rim than half of the roster. Once he finds his touch on shots outside of the paint, he is going to be a problem on a night-to-night basis. He should be the Rookie of the Year favorite now and has the potential to be a really good player for a long time.
• San Antonio has to find a way to get Fox moving downhill. In the last two games, it's seemed like if he's not getting out in transition, he's settling for jumpers. That calls for more zoom action to get him coming off a dribble handoff or creating straight-line drives off high pick and rolls. Some sort of offensive creativity to get your new star involved would do them a lot of favors offensively.