I don’t think I can actually do justice to whatever it is we just witnessed. The season is dead. The vibes are in the toilet. The uncertainty is high. Nothing has gone the way we wanted, and these games are increasingly feeling like something we half-watch while trying to focus on almost anything else. Personally, as a Spurs fan, I feel like I’ve been floating aimlessly in a lake — fully adrift, staring blankly up at the sky.
Then, out of nowhere, a hand appeared and offered me a way out.
Sandro Mamukelashvili. My, my, my. Sandro Mamukelashvili. Is this man maybe one of the most interesting dudes in the league? Born in New York, raised in Tbilisi, Georgia. High school in Italy. Speaks four languages. Is apparently best friends with Flava Flav? On top of all that, I scoured the entire internet trying to find a single bad word said about Sandro, and I came up empty. Do you realize how hard that is? The internet hates everyone.
It’s easy to overstate the importance of Sandro’s night against the Knicks. It didn’t change the Spurs’ playoff hopes. It didn’t fix Victor’s shoulder or De’Aaron’s finger. It didn’t bring Pop back to the sidelines. It certainly didn’t do anything for our draft odds. It was a nothing. A 34-point game in the forest with no one around to hear it.
So what was the point?
The point is that it was fun as hell. Truly one of the most joyous, random NBA games I’ve seen in a long, long time. This crazy man, covered in tattoos (but only on one side of his body), rocking the number 54 like they ran out of jersey numbers at NBA orientation, put on an absolute clinic. He’s got a shot that only a mother could love, and that shot simply couldn’t miss. At the highest level of basketball, for one night, Sandro Mamukelashvili was the best at it.
The point is that we got to witness a miracle.
It felt like exhaling. Like the entire fanbase had been so distracted by everything else going wrong that we forgot to breathe. In the grand scheme, things aren’t all that bad, but in the small picture? It feels crummy. This season didn’t look like it was supposed to. It wasn’t the majestic return to relevance we’d all envisioned. It had ups, it had downs, then it had more downs, followed by occasional sparks of ups that were immediately smothered by — you guessed it — more downs.
It’s been a bummer. And honestly? I’ve been kind of down about it. Not something I’m proud of, but I just didn’t want to engage with the Spurs. The world is weird and scary and disorienting, and more than anything, I wanted the Spurs to be a safe haven from all of that. When they weren’t... well, I checked out.
Thankfully, the powers that be at _Pounding The Rock dot com_ make us schedule writing assignments pretty far in advance. So my name was sitting in the spreadsheet next to **March 19 — Spurs vs. Knicks**. I grumbled, complained, sighed, and finally put on my hard hat, clocked in, and sat down to witness Sandro explode into a constellation of iridescent splendor so beautiful it brought me to my knees.
Funny how life works.
The Sandro Game isn’t going to change my life. But then again... maybe it will? I feel more open to the idea that something fun or joyful might just come out of nowhere and slap me in the face when I least expect it. I feel ready to not be sad about the Spurs, even when things aren’t really going our way. I feel more open to what an individual game might be in the world, without it having to conform to the strict laws of nature.
After the game, Blake Wesley said this about Mamu:
_“Everybody that I know says they love him. He’s a happy person, good or bad. A good guy to be around.”_
This franchise is on the cusp of something big. The next decade is going to be filled with big names and bigger games. The lights will be bright, the attention will be overwhelming, the wins will be exhilarating, and the losses will sting. And in those moments, it’s going to be important to remember guys like Sandro Mamukelashvili.
A happy person, good or bad. A good guy to be around.
In other words, a miracle.
### **Takeaways:**
* I don’t know how long the Chris Paul era is going to last in San Antonio. Maybe we get another year of him, or maybe he moves on and continues hooping his way across the NBA. What I do know is that one of my defining memories of his time here will be watching him start to realize that Sandro was glowing. You could see it happening in real time — Chris Paul throwing out whatever plan he had and getting the Spurs into sets designed to feed Sandro the ball. It was like the pure Basketball Guy in him lit up, recognizing the significance of what was unfolding. It’s so important to have a pure Basketball Guy on the squad for moments like this.
* My instinct was to downplay the Flava Flav thing. It felt like one of those Spurs-adjacent moments where any time anyone remotely famous outside the basketball world pops up, the team gets a little too thirsty about it. It rubs me the wrong way — I just don’t need it. I think the Spurs are cool on their own merit, not because of which celebrities are sitting courtside. We’re not the Lakers or the Knicks, and that’s a good thing.
* THAT BEING SAID, the fact that Mamu is actually friends with Flav? And that he was the one who got him tickets to this specific game? And then Mamu proceeded to turn into Steph Curry for the one night Flav was in the building? That’s just good, clean miracle stuff right there. This whole game already felt like an out-of-body basketball experience, and the fact that Mamu walked off the court to thunderous applause — arm in arm with one of the weirdest pop culture figures of our time? That’s an indelible memory. Fire up the “Yeah Bois,” Spurs fans. Hit as many as you want.
> "MY MAN IS ON FIRE!" Sandro Mamukelashvili scored 34 POINTS (7/7 3PT) in 19 MINUTES Most PTS under 20 MINSMamu: 34 in 19 MINS (93% FG)Jaylen Brown: 33 in 19 MINS (65% FG)Kevin Love: 32 in 15 MINS (63% FG)
>
> KD: 30 in 19 MINS (77% FG)[pic.twitter.com/4g26fRzFC0](https://t.co/4g26fRzFC0)
>
> — Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) [March 20, 2025](https://twitter.com/Ballislife/status/1902682930800980229?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
### **WWL Post Game Press Conference**
_\- So do you think you’ll actually turn over a new leaf now? No more morose, woebegone recaps as we head down the stretch here?_
\- I’m going to give it the old college try, I’ll tell you that much. I don’t know if it’s going to be a smooth process. We all can’t just turn into Sandro Mamukelashvili overnight at the drop of a hat, but it feels like a good goal to shoot for.
_\- Would it help to get one side of your body tattooed?_
\- It wouldn’t hurt, I’ll tell you that much!
_\- I mean, it probably would hurt. Tattoos notoriously hurt. That’s like one of the main things about tattoos._
\- Right. Yes. The needles and the poking and all that.
_\- Yes, the needles and the poking. And all that._
\- Well, I guess I mean, it won’t hurt the process. It won’t detract from my stated goal of trying to, you know, be a better guy. Mamu has a giant peace sign tattoo on his knee. This is a guy committed to the process and that the kind of commitment we need around here.
_\- So I can put you down for a giant knee tattoo by the time we hear from you again?_
\- Sorry, you’re connection is breaking up. It’s all static on my end. Didn’t catch that last part but looking forward to the future! Good things! Happy Vibes! ✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️