If you're one of the skeptics who repeatedly reminded the optimists what a small sample size the five wins were, then you must also acknowledge that one loss is a smaller one. Nothing went right for the Spurs last night, and it took a complete outlier of a game for someone to stop the roll the Silver and Black were on to start their season.
The Spurs' loss to Phoenix was due to several factors
Let me count the ways... Victor Wembanyama scored nine points. He's only been held to double-digits five times in his career, so that's not something you can really count on to continue. The Suns shot 58% from three, while the Spurs shot 24%, and San Antonio was still missing five rotational pieces—one being an all-star caliber point guard—and that was before Dylan Harper's injury.
When the rookie from Rutgers went down, he had 12 points on 5/8 FG in 11 minutes. Who knows how that game would have gone had he been able to finish the game next to Stephon Castle and his 26 points. Let me also give credit to Phoenix for showing up to the game when the Spurs didn't. But there were other factors at play, and knowing it took a cascade of misfortune to stop them should unnerve the rest of the league.
The Silver and Black are still scratching the surface
The last time Wemby scored fewer than 10 points was October 30, 2024. We can count on not seeing that happen again for quite some time. But like the giant Frenchman said himself after the game, there is a lot to learn from the loss. Every team has thrown a different defensive scheme at San Antonio's franchise star, but the Suns were the only opponent to have real success.
They rushed Vic with two or three as soon as he touched the ball. They didn't give him time to survey the floor. Phoenix sped him up, making him uncomfortable and uncertain, leading to a season-high six turnovers for the phenom. Now that Wembanyama and the coaching staff have seen that strategy used successfully, they can work on countering it. They'll be ready for it when the next team tries that.
However, as complex as defensive and offensive schemes can be, sometimes basketball can be simple. Getting Fox back on the court will cure much of what has ailed the 5-1 Spurs. The Suns would not have been able to play Wemby as aggressively with a scorer as dynamic as Swipa out there.
We can call it like it is, too. San Antonio looked like they took Phoenix lightly to start the game, and they had to climb uphill all night because of it. That's a young team doing young team things, so it was a perfect storm of imperfections that led to their first loss. I can easily see more than 50 wins for this team with that in mind. They play Luka Doncic and the Lakers next. I have a feeling that we'll see a much more energized team.