{"id":666132,"date":"2026-03-19T03:14:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T03:14:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/666132\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T03:14:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T03:14:41","slug":"how-a-locked-in-offseason-prepared-spurs-for-championship-push","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/666132\/","title":{"rendered":"How a \u2018locked in\u2019 offseason prepared Spurs for championship push"},"content":{"rendered":"

How a \u2018locked in\u2019 offseason prepared Spurs for championship push<\/a> appeared first on ClutchPoints<\/a>. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In beating the Sacramento Kings 132-104, the San Antonio Spurs<\/a> captured their first 51st win of the season. Building on their first 50-win season in almost a decade is an accomplishment Victor Wembanyama<\/a> says is more than a year in the making.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cI look back and I think, \u2018I hope we can be this locked in for all the off-seasons to come,\u2019 because it was a really high-level preparation mentally, physically for everybody; the amount of film we did. And this is the reason we were so ready for the season. So, that\u2019s what I think when I look back.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Antonio entered the year off a 34-48 campaign that followed a 22-60 mark in Wemby\u2019s rookie season. Though that provides the context for what\u2019s proven a very impressive 2025-2026, it reaches minimal expectation for the generational talent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing you can say is taking each step at a time and validating the checking of boxes. My goal was never to make the play-in or win the play-in. It was to get into the playoffs with no question and that would\u2019ve made a successful season at the time,\u201d the Spurs\u2019 leading scorer said following a victory the night before against the Los Angeles Clippers.<\/p>\n

Just 22 years old, Wembanyama showcases wisdom beyond his years. It\u2019s been that way since he entered the NBA at the age of 19. And it\u2019s a gift he drove home following the win in LA.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to always look at a season as a whole. We can look at the season as our worst stretch at the end of 2025 or our best stretch in the month of February pretty much right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following a stint in which they won 11 of 12 games, including three against the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a>, the Spurs lost back-to-back home games to the Utah Jazz and a then struggling Cleveland Cavaliers team. A week later, they lost consecutive games again, this time to the Portland Trail Blazers and Memphis Grizzles, who sit 10th and 11th in the Western Conference Standings through mid-March.<\/p>\n

Conversely, San Antonio didn\u2019t lose in February and recently fell in only one game on a home stand full of postseason contenders<\/a>, including some of the league\u2019s best. And that loss came without Wembanyama to the Denver Nuggets.<\/p>\n

Spurs resume storied history of 50+ wins<\/p>\n

Before this season, the last time the Silver and Black hit 50 wins was 2016-17 when they won 61 and reached the Western Conference Finals. That run, which ended in a 4-1 series loss to the eventual champion Golden State Warriors after Kawhi Leonard re-aggravated an ankle injury<\/a>, marked the franchise\u2019s 20th straight season of 50+ (or equivalent \u2013 37 in strike shortened \u201999) wins.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

These Spurs are 51-18 following a 132-104 blowout in Sacramento.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very much possible that these last 14 games are satisfying. Or not. This is why we\u2019ve got to take each step at a time,\u201d Wembanyama contonued following the aforementioned triumph over the Clippers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though the season will be somewhat successful when you look as a whole, we\u2019ve still got (13) games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Truth is, Wembanyama and the Spurs appear set to play well more than the 13 games that remain in the regular season.<\/p>\n

Related: Luke Kornet jokes about losing starting spot to Victor Wembanyama<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Kendrick Perkins declares Spurs NBA Finals favorites over Thunder<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How a \u2018locked in\u2019 offseason prepared Spurs for championship push appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":666133,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3797],"tags":[7,193,187,164,529,135,6,179,471,477,969,474,4075,4074,534,2594,427,693],"class_list":{"0":"post-666132","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio-spurs","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","10":"tag-denver-nuggets","11":"tag-golden-state-warriors","12":"tag-kawhi-leonard","13":"tag-los-angeles-clippers","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","16":"tag-portland-trail-blazers","17":"tag-sacramento-kings","18":"tag-san-antonio","19":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","20":"tag-sanantonio","21":"tag-sanantoniospurs","22":"tag-spurs","23":"tag-the-spurs","24":"tag-utah-jazz","25":"tag-victor-wembanyama"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116253665779788842","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=666132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/666133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}