The Oklahoma City Thunder got the last laugh against the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night, beating them in the season opener, 116-104. However, as the Spurs keep pointing out, there are 81 games left before the postseason. There’s plenty of time to bounce back.
Heading into the game, fans knew that things would be physical. Early in the second quarter, De’Aaron Fox went out of his way to set the tone, throwing Chet Holmgren into the ground. Now, Fox was dealing with a mismatch, guarding Holmgren one-on-one in the paint. Fouling him was really the only line of defense he had.
Holmgren ended up on the ground with Fox standing over him. The veteran guard insists that he didn’t mean to do it, but no bad blood was lost.
“I just tried to take a foul,” Fox said. “I don’t think I’m that strong.”
Jaylen Williams, Jalen Williams, and Kenrich Williams all rushed to Homgren’s aid, where Victor Wembanyama got between the Thunder and Fox. Four technicals were issued, as well as a flagrant on Fox, before the game could resume.
And to think we were only 14 minutes into the season!
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Spurs and Thunder Offer Thoughts on Physical Matchup
Since drafting Wembanyama first overall in 2023, the Spurs have employed Zach Collins, Jeremy Sochan, and Bismack Biyombo, who all were supposed to be “enforcers,” doing the dirty work so the superstar could stay out of danger.
Most top players tend to shy away from starting a scrap. Clearly, Wembanyama and Nikola Jokic are cut from the same cloth. Spurs fans love it. The rest of the league–especially Naz Reid–could do without it.
Wembanyama, like Fox, downplayed the incident, although it was pretty clear that they both relished the physicality.
“Just trying to pull him away from trouble,” he summed up.
While that’s admirable and whipped the crowd into a frenzy, there are 13 other guys on the roster who could have stepped in. Leaving it up to Wembanyama was rash.
“Victor came in to have De’Aaron Fox’s back,” offered ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. “He shoved De’Aaron aside and got into J-Will’s face. It might be advisable, especially in more valuable games, for Victor to let somebody else have the players’ backs. But that’s not Victor’s temperament. I understand.”
Of course, Williams, Williams, and Williams weren’t totally innocent, either. There was a lot of shoving and finger-pointing, and their reasoning was the exact same as Wemby’s.
“I didn’t really like the play, and I just ran in there,” said Jalen Williams. “If anybody’s ever been in a scuffle, there’s really not a lot of thinking to it. I just make sure I have my guys’ backs in there, and NBA scuffles, you just grab whoever is close and just push. Cost me $2,500, though.
Holmgren, it’s worth noting, let his teammates fight for him, staying on the outside of the scuffle. Even the least-sympathetic Spurs fan can understand that he was probably confused. After all, he has a rivalry with Wembanyama, not Fox, “the little guy.”
“I’m not going to think too much of the play,” Holmgren said. “At the end of the day, I’m going to get up and keep hooping, but I appreciate my teammates having my back. I’m not necessarily sure how exactly we get three techs for a reaction to something else. I don’t fully understand that, but at the end of the day, I feel like anything that you’re not willing to reciprocate is an advantage for the other team. So if they want to play physical, we have to match that, and the refs are going to do their job in keeping that within the guidelines.”
The Spurs and Thunder will have to wait until February 11 to get another look at each other, but fans can count down the days, since that matchup should be just as chippy as this one. Hopefully, the Spurs will be able to play better.
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