The Athletic's Jared Weiss T'd Spurs fans up for a great time when you take the right perspective on where they are as a team. San Antonio has finally reached a level of adversity that caused them to stumble in their young season, and now, everyone gets a chance to see how they respond to it. Weiss made the undeniable point during an appearance on FanDuel's Run It Back show.
"You're gonna lose. Things are going to go wrong. Wemby is not going to have good games. How does the team respond to that?" - Jared Weiss
As the Spurs' beat writer said, nobody goes 82-0. There has never been a single team to accomplish the feat, so it's not the end of the world to lose a game. Even if that loss is to a lacking Phoenix Suns team that they should have beaten. That's sports. Sometimes, you lose games everyone expects you to win. What's important is how you respond to that, and that's the next chapter of SA's story.
Spurs are dealing with a new reality
Most projections already had the Silver and Black making the playoffs this season, but they went through the play-in tournament to get there in most of them. Once the games began, Victor Wembanyama showed everyone that he had already evolved into the T-1000, and the rest of the team was better than expected, so things have changed a bit.
Wemby is getting love as an MVP favorite, and the words "title contender" are being thrown around. Anything seems within reach for a squad that isn't used to these kinds of expectations. According to the franchise star, their success isn't random, and I believe him. They put in the work, the organization put the pieces in place, and Mitch Johnson is a bright young coach with a good staff.
Teams are going to give them their best, opposing coaches are going to deploy their best game plans, and they're going to do everything in their power to stop the Spurs from establishing their new dynasty. That includes throwing the kitchen sink at the Alien. We've already seen it happen a couple of times so far, and the defensive schemes are only going to evolve.
But at the end of the day, it's all a privilege when you're a good team. You only get this kind of attention when the masses believe you to be a real threat. It's part of the process. The Spurs will need to weather the storms that will inevitably surge with more ferocity than ever before, and that's an opportunity for everyone to learn who they really are. That's exciting.