It was 104 – 104.
In the final seconds of game two of the NBA Finals, Victor Wembanyama grabbed a rebound and passed it up court to teammate Stephon Castle. Castle didn’t see the pass coming — it hit him in the back and bounced into the hands of the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson.
The Spurs lost that game on the way to eventually falling to the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals series 4-1.
For many fans, these hiccups looked like inexperience. Wembanyama is 22 and Castle is 21. The Spurs are the second youngest team to ever make it to the Finals.
Dan Solomon wrote a retrospective on the team for Texas Monthly. He said that what’s true now for the team doesn’t have to reflect their future.
“You can reasonably expect that they’ve learned from this, and that those aren’t the mistakes they’re likely to make the next time they’re in this position,” said Solomon.
The New York Knicks quickly became the “main characters” of the Finals. Americans are primed to root for the underdogs, which The Knicks decidedly were — they hadn’t seen an NBA title in 53 years.
The story left Spurs fans in a strange position.
“That was kind of a weird experience,” said Solomon, “watching as a Spurs fan and watching from Texas to realize that the broader conversation isn’t about the team that you care about. It’s about the other one.”
For some, that insulation from the narrative can be part of what makes rooting for the Spurs feel so special.
“This part of the state doesn’t have another team,” said Solomon. “San Antonio gets one and they really, really care about it.”
The Spurs just aren’t as flashy as the Knicks, so what else keeps fans watching? Well for one, the team is built on a roster of future talent.
“There’s a lot to be optimistic about,” said Solomon. “I think that these players aren’t going to get worse. If the biggest problem was youth, and I think that it was, then that gets cured just by the passage of time.”
From Solomon’s perspective, what happened in New York this season is only the beginning for the Spurs.
“A few different plays at the end of a few games, and this is a completely different story,” he said. “I don’t think you’ll see those mistakes happen again.”
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