Wembanyama’s slip up: the night the Spurs finally blinked

The Spurs delivered the most unpredictable loss imaginable. After all, they had won eight straight and 10 of their previous 11 games before inexplicably falling at home to the Jazz, 127–114, in San Antonio, in front of their own fans. And to make the stumble even more striking, during that stretch they had beaten the Thunder three separate times – the seemingly untouchable champions who were cruising toward a second straight title until the youthful, disruptive Texans, led by the ever-present figure of Victor Wembanyama, crossed their path.

All of that had turned the team into an extraordinary opponent, the kind that demands attention. But also one that remains, inevitably, human.

Perhaps because they had grown accustomed to winning – or simply because no one can win forever – the Spurs slipped up at home against a Jazz team whose project appears to be drifting, almost as if it had to happen. In doing so, they offered a measure of relief to the Thunder, whose grip on the top spot in the Western Conference had begun to look fragile after nearly three months of dominance, undone by a roster determined to allow the franchise to once again boast the most captivating style of basketball on the planet.

The same brand they once had with Tim Duncan, Manu Ginóbili and Tony Parker taking turns on the court, and Gregg Popovich on the sideline. The style that carried them to the playoffs in 22 consecutive seasons, brushing up against the all-time record in American sports. A postseason they are, quite obviously, desperate to return to – no matter how uneven the road has been.

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San Antonio Spurs

Stats

40 Harrison Barnes
18 Bismack Biyombo
11 Carter Bryant
5 Stephon Castle
30 Julian Champagnie
2 Dylan Harper
3 Keldon Johnson
7 Luke Kornet
0 Jordan McLaughlin
8 Kelly Olynyk
10 Jeremy Sochan
24 Devin Vassell
43 Lindy Waters III
1 Victor Wembanyama
25 David Jones-Garcia

Stats

	Min	Pts	TR	OR	DR	Ast	Los	Rec	Blk	S1	S2	S3	RF	CF	Val
40 Harrison Barnes	22	3	2	0	2	2	0	0	0	0/0	0/1	1/3	0	1	0
18 Bismack Biyombo	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
11 Carter Bryant	13	3	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/2	1/2	0	2	0
5 Stephon Castle	33	20	2	0	2	7	4	2	0	3/3	7/11	1/8	0	5	0
30 Julian Champagnie	25	4	5	4	1	0	0	1	0	0/0	2/4	0/6	0	2	0
2 Dylan Harper	26	7	7	1	6	12	2	3	0	1/1	3/6	0/4	0	3	0
3 Keldon Johnson	24	27	10	4	6	1	0	0	0	2/3	5/8	5/7	0	2	0
7 Luke Kornet	19	7	8	3	5	1	0	0	1	3/4	2/3	0/0	0	1	0
0 Jordan McLaughlin	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
8 Kelly Olynyk	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
10 Jeremy Sochan	5	0	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
24 Devin Vassell	35	11	3	0	3	3	0	0	1	1/2	2/3	2/9	0	2	0
43 Lindy Waters III	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/1	0	1	0
1 Victor Wembanyama	27	32	7	2	5	3	3	0	5	8/8	12/17	0/4	0	3	0
25 David Jones-Garcia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0

Utah Jazz

Stats

2 Kyle Anderson
13 Walter Clayton Jr.
8 Isaiah Collier
22 Kyle Filipowski
3 Keyonte George
0 Taylor Hendricks
23 Lauri Markkanen
10 Svi Mykhailiuk
30 Jusuf Nurkić
28 Brice Sensabaugh
34 Oscar Tshiebwe
5 Cody Williams
16 Elijah Harkless
17 John Tonje

Stats

	Min	Pts	TR	OR	DR	Ast	Los	Rec	Blk	S1	S2	S3	RF	CF	Val
2 Kyle Anderson	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
13 Walter Clayton Jr.	22	17	2	0	2	5	0	1	0	3/3	4/4	2/2	0	0	0
8 Isaiah Collier	15	7	1	0	1	4	4	0	0	0/1	2/3	1/2	0	1	0
22 Kyle Filipowski	21	6	3	0	3	6	1	2	1	2/2	2/5	0/2	0	3	0
3 Keyonte George	34	28	5	0	5	6	3	2	1	11/13	4/9	3/9	0	1	0
0 Taylor Hendricks	18	2	3	0	3	1	0	0	1	0/0	1/1	0/3	0	2	0
23 Lauri Markkanen	34	29	5	1	4	1	1	3	1	2/2	6/10	5/6	0	3	0
10 Svi Mykhailiuk	14	3	1	1	0	1	1	0	0	0/0	0/0	1/1	0	1	0
30 Jusuf Nurkić	26	16	7	2	5	6	3	0	0	2/4	4/7	2/5	0	5	0
28 Brice Sensabaugh	33	11	4	1	3	3	2	0	0	0/0	1/1	3/5	0	2	0
34 Oscar Tshiebwe	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
5 Cody Williams	19	8	6	2	4	1	0	1	0	0/1	4/6	0/2	0	1	0
16 Elijah Harkless	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
17 John Tonje	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0