Daniel Dunn-Imagn Images Wemby continues to shine from deep, plus the Spurs had a spotless game even when their Alien took a seat. The Spurs have had an awful lot of games this season that went down to the wire, and they’ve won the majority of those games. It’s been great to watch as a fan. After all, what’s more exciting than crunch time? Well, Thursday’s home win against the Atlanta Hawks showed what’s more exciting: five minutes of additional crunch time. After that nailbiter, I was kinda thirsty for a game in which the Spurs, you know, don’t go head-to-head with the opposition for 48 minutes, don’t relinquish a major lead but hold on, don’t catch up on a major lead and prevail, but one in which they just lead all the way through. The basketball gods were content: The Spurs cruised to victory at home against the Blazers in the kind of no-doubt stomping that would have done any era of Spurs fan proud Are you already doing Christmas parties or hangouts with relatives and friends from out of state who don’t share your love of the Spurs and were trying to pull you away from the TV? This game was for you, as home team had the game sewed up by the middle of the third quarter, allowing you to join the crew, secure that the victory wasn’t in doubt. Are you a watch-every-minute fan who’d never schedule any holiday event that competes a Spurs top-off? Well, the good guys won every quarter and Sidy Cissoko got on the board. What’s not to love about that? Takeaways We already knew, but it’s certainly welcome to be reassured that Victor Wembanyama doesn’t need to grab 10 rebounds to record a double double. He can just score 30 points and block 10 shots when a team insists on challenging him at the rim. Interestingly, it came in a game in which he surpassed David Robinson’s so far franchise-leading streak of 61 consecutive games with at least one block. It took Wemby some time to get into a scoring groove though, almost the entire first half. The Blazers put their wings on him, Jerami Grant and Deni Avdija, and their wings did a better job on Wemby than their bigs — although that’s a relative measure on a night Vic popped for 30 points… With two consecutive threes to end the second quarter, Wemby finally broke free and half-time couldn’t break his momentum, as he pretty much roamed free in the third quarter. Most importantly, he managed to remain efficient from deep, going 4 out of 8. Speaking of shooting, the Spurs had a blowout win in the NBA even though they were 10 from 36 from deep – in the 2024/25 season, that’s quite the low-volume/low-efficiency performance. Interim head coach Mitch Johnson continued experimenting with lineups, with garbage time not really the reason why many guys you would expect to play more minutes – including Sochan, Vassell, and Barnes – all playing only 24 minutes or less. The most remarkable personnel matter, next to Wemby of course, was the performance of a certain Charles Bassey, who continues to get better and better. Chuck contributed 16 points and 12 rebounds in only 18 minutes. It’s good to see a Spurs backup big have an undeniably good game. No notes. Just take this momentum on the road, Charlie. Both Sochan and Castle scored inefficiently from the field, and they maybe shouldn’t share the court too often for the time being. Both need to be involved in the offensive action for spacing to not be ruined. It’s not an ideal situation. Still, both of them thrived assisting their teammates, which is nothing new for Castle, but still kinda remarkable for Sochan, in particular the chemistry between him and Wemby keeps growing. (A long-term effect of last season’s “Point Sochan” Experiment? I think so.) There was something to learn in the post-game on-court interview between Dan Weis and Victor Wembanyama as well: the 16:9 aspect ratio isn’t the best one when a person of normal height is interviewing Wemby.