The Spurs dominated a lowly opponent from wire to wire, as a contender should. Despite not getting a particularly great offensive performance from Victor Wembanyama, they found scoring from all over the floor on their visit to Milwaukee and played aggressive defense en route to an easy 127-95 win, sweeping their three-game road trip.
As it’s always the case with matinee matchups, there was some concern about whether it would be a sloppy game featuring some lackadaisical play, especially at the start. Such an affair would have benefited the inferior Giannis-less Bucks, but they were out of luck. The Spurs took care of business early on. Wembanyama affected the home team’s offense with his presence alone and the perimeter defenders, especially Devin Vassell, were active trying to create turnovers. On the other end, the ball handlers drove to the paint to finish or get Milwaukee in rotation until someone wearing a light jersey got lost and allowed an open three. There were a couple of bad possessions as the second unit checked in, but the energy and the shot-making were still there.
The Silver and Black were up 13 after one, but there was no let-up. Despite trying too hard to get Wembanyama involved on offense at times, the points kept pouring in, either created by Wemby or by the unselfish ball movement. Against a better opponent, the few poor stretches from the attack could have been an issue, but the Bucks simply had no shot creation to punish a locked-in Spurs defense. Despite the lead growing, the Silver and Black refused to play with less intensity on their own end. The perfect example of the focus on display was a play at the end of the second quarter in which Dylan Harper lost a shooter and his teammates got visibly annoyed despite San Antonio being up by 28 points. It was that kind of engaged performance from the visitors.
There wasn’t much suspense in this matchup, but the shorthanded Bucks deserve credit for showing pride and giving the home crowd something to cheer about, at least for a short while. They closed the first half well and made their run to start the third quarter, sinking jumpers while the Spurs missed theirs to close the gap to just 15 points, prompting a timeout from Mitch Johnson. When action resumed, the Silver and Black went on an 8-0 run to regain full control of the game, showing they have matured past their struggles to maintain leads. They weren’t as sharp defensively, which is understandable against an opponent that lacks firepower, and Wembanyama forced things at times on offense, but the talent disparity was too high, and the effort was always there.
The lead was at 23 to start the fourth, and it didn’t take long to reach the 30s, as Mitch Johnson kept his starters in until Stephon Castle got his triple-double and Wemby got a few trips to the line after a slow scoring start that had him frustrated with the officiating. Around the halfway mark, the benches were emptied, and it was only a matter of time before the Spurs got their eighth win in a row.
Since he’s been playing a new role that has him spotting up more, it’s easy to forget how quick De’Aaron Fox is with the ball in his hands until he does something like this to remind us all.
Next game: vs. Chicago Bulls on Monday
The Spurs will host the Bulls, hoping to keep the winning streak alive before heading into another three-game road trip.