The San Antonio Spurs finally debuted their starting lineup with De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, and Dylan Harper, and it was a mixed bag. The offense stalled out of the gate, with the team managing just three points in the first five minutes of play against the Phoenix Suns.
Mitch Johnson, the team’s coach, had expressed confidence in the lineup before the game, saying that Fox, Castle, and Harper are “three of our better players” and that they can “dribble, pass, shoot, defend, make winning plays” and are “unselfish” with “good size.”
Early Struggles
The trio’s first few minutes on the court were rocky, with none of them making a basket or an assist. The team shot just 1-10 from the floor in the first five minutes, and Johnson was forced to make adjustments to the lineup.
Johnson started by benching Fox, then Castle, leaving only Harper on the court. He then brought Fox back in, and later Castle, and the team began to show signs of life. When Johnson went down to just one of the three guards, it was either Fox or Harper, and those lineups held their own.
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However, it was when the trio played together that they started to click. In the final 3:33 of the half, with all three guards on the court, the Spurs scored 17 points and outscored the Suns by 10.
Turning the Corner
Stephon Castle got to the free throw line six times and finished the game with 18 points, while Fox fed Victor Wembanyama for a dunk and an alley-oop finish before hitting a corner triple. Harper didn’t shoot as well as he would have liked, but he finished with nine points and grabbed six rebounds, including a soaring offensive rebound and putback slam.
Johnson leaned heavily into the three-guard lineup, with the trio playing almost a quarter together in aggregate. The duo of either Fox or Harper and Castle paired up for nearly eight minutes, leaving single coverage with either Fox or Harper for five minutes total.
As the game wore on, the trio began to look sharp, and it’s clear that Johnson plans to play them together as much as possible. After the game, Wembanyama, who finished with 19 points and four blocks, said that “it felt like we were trying to do the right things at the beginning, but we scored so few points, but when it clicked, it really clicked.”
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Johnson downplayed the focus on the three-guard lineup, but seemed happy with what he saw from them, saying that “we did some good things” and that it’s a “long way to go in other areas.” The Spurs will look to build on this performance in their preseason finale on Friday.
In the first half, the trio played more minutes than they probably will in the regular season, with Harper playing 17 minutes and Fox and Castle playing 19. Johnson may look to stretch out their stints or add more minutes as the season progresses.
The team’s performance in the preseason finale on Friday will be closely watched, as it will be a dress rehearsal for a 48-minute game. The trio’s ability to play together and dominate the game will be a key factor in the Spurs’ success this season.
Wembanyama’s performance, finishing with 19 points and four blocks, was a highlight of the game, and he will be a key player in the team’s success this season. The Spurs’ win over the Suns, 123-103, was a positive sign, and the team will look to build on this performance in the regular season.
