点击查看原文：3 takeaways as Fox and Barnes take over for Spurs vs. Grizzlies
3 takeaways as Fox and Barnes take over for Spurs vs. Grizzlies
San Antonio Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox (4) drives against Memphis Grizzlies guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (3) during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)
Life is not always going to be easy for the Spurs without Victor Wembanyama. It is not going to be fun without Stephon Castle.
If they can pull out victories like they did Tuesday in the meantime, they will live with it.
De’Aaron Fox scored 26 points and Harrison Barnes scored 23 as the Spurs pulled away for a 111-101 over Memphis at the Frost Bank Center.
The Spurs were playing for the first time without both Wembanyama (calf strain) and Castle (hip flexor). Memphis was about as banged up, missing a host of rotation players highlighted by All-Star guard Ja Morant (calf strain).
Rookie guard Cedric Coward led the Grizzlies with 19 points and 11 rebounds, but Memphis lost for the ninth time in 10 games anyhow.
The game was not always befitting its national TV audience. It was a rock fight through a first half that ended with the Spurs leading 49-47.
The Spurs trailed 87-86 after three, and were still behind by a point heading into the final 2½ minutes.
The Spurs finished the game on a frantic 11-0 run to steal the game down the stretch, snapping a string of 11 consecutive defeats against the Grizzlies in San Antonio. Before Tuesday, the last time Memphis had lost a game at the Frost Bank Center was Jan. 5, 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here are three takeaways from Tuesday’s victory, which improved the Spurs to 10-4:
1. Hats off to the Senator
The Spurs were down by a point heading into the final 2½ minutes, and didn’t feel like they were about to turn anything their way.
On three consecutive possessions, Barnes made sure things did.
First, he made a running skyhook with Edey closing. Then he made a paint jumper over Jackson, a former NBA Defensive Player of the Year. On the next trip, Barnes swished a quick-trigger 3-pointer.
That spurt got Barnes to his second consecutive 20-point game and kick-started the game-closing run that gave the Spurs the game.
2. Breaking down Spurs’ changes sans Wemby
Two nights earlier, Sacramento coach Doug Christie found out about an hour before tipoff his team would not have Wembanyama to contend with.
Memphis coach Tuomas Iisalo had a couple days’ notice to scrap his Wemby-centric game plan.
“It’s a very, very different team with him out there,” Iisalo said.
The differences are most stark on the defensive end, where the Spurs had built a top 10 unit around Wembanyama’s mobility and shot-blocking prowess.
“He’s a one-man defense roaming around,” Iisalo said. They do a lot of switching and he comes and cleans up so to speak at the rim.”
With Luke Kornet starting in place of Wembanyama, Iisalo assumed the Spurs would become more of a pick-and-roll team than they have been to this point.
The Spurs waited until the second half to run more screens for Fox, and it seemed to get the All-Star going.
He scored 22 points in the second half, after going 1-of-7 in the first.
“Of course, we don’t want to say it changes the way we play, but it obviously does,” Fox said. “We just have to continue to be solid and make it tough on teams.”
3. Defense wins it down the stretch
The Spurs’ defense was the gift that kept on giving in the third quarter, allowing 40 points to the Grizzlies.
The script flipped in the fourth.
The Spurs buckled down, holding Memphis to 14 in the fourth quarter to pull away.
Mostly, it was a matter of hustle and disciplined pressure.
The final push was sparked by a flurry of defensive plays – Luke Kornet stonewalling Memphis behemoth Zach Edey twice in the paint, Devin Vassell steal an inbounds pass, Fox nudging the ball away from Coward while Keldon Johnson pounced on it to secure possession.
That last steal gave rise to a grinning windmill from Fox, a fitting exclamation point on a dominating finish.