Two nights earlier in Chicago, the Spurs came out sluggish against an outmanned Bulls team and had to overcome a 22-point deficit to secure their 10th straight victory.
Back home at the Frost Bank Center on Friday, they vowed not to make things as difficult on themselves against a banged-up Golden State squad down one Stephen Curry.
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Fueled by the scorchingest of scorching starts, the Spurs cruised to a 123-85 wire-to-wire victory that moved them to 2-0 in NBA Cup play.
Stephon Castle scored a season-best 32 points to spearhead the Spurs’ most lopsided win of the season.
With it, the Spurs extended their winning streak to 11 in a row, matching their longest since Victor Wembanyama joined the team in 2023.
The Warriors were without their own Steph, and it showed. Curry, the team’s 38-year-old All-Star, was out with a torn oblique suffered against Houston on Wednesday.
Golden State struggled to accomplish much of anything without him.
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Wembanyama added 12 points and 12 rebounds with two blocks in 20 minutes before taking a seat to watch his teammates finish off the rout.
He got his first basket on a lob from Dylan Harper with 8:43 to go in the first quarter. By that point, the Spurs already led 14-0.
They would push the lead to 18-0, completing their largest game-opening run of the past 30 seasons, before Golden State’s Gui Santos miraculously scored a bucket to get his team on the board.
By the third quarter, the Spurs led by 43 points.
It was all over but the garbage time.
San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) dunks over Golden State Warriors guards De’Anthony Melton (8) and Will Richard (3) during the first quarter of an NBA Cup basketball game at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News)
Here are three takeaways from Friday’s victory, as the Spurs became the first team in league history to win 11 straight after starting a season 0-2:
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1. Castle finding new place
Castle’s breakout performance could not have come at a better time. He admits he has spent some of the early portion of his third NBA season getting in his own way.
“The biggest obstacle I had was really myself,” Castle said.
Playing alongside De’Aaron Fox and Harper in the Spurs’ starting lineup, Castle is getting fewer opportunities to operate with the ball in his hands than he has been accustomed to.
His offensive numbers, at times, have reflected the adjustment.
Opposing teams are often using centers to guard him, sagging off in the paint and daring him to shoot 3-pointers.
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On Friday, Castle took the Warriors up on it.
It was Castle’s best 3-point night of the season in terms of percentage, and the most 3-point baskets he’s made since going 5-for-12 in the Spurs’ season-opening loss against Oklahoma City.
The transition hasn’t always been seamless, but the 22-year-old former Rookie of the Year is showing signs of figuring out where he fits in the Spurs’ crowded backcourt.
Friday’s game marked his first 30-point game since Game 6 against Minnesota in last season’s the Western Conference semifinals. It was his first 30-point game in the regular season since burning Denver for 30 in a March 12 defeat against the Nuggets.
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“He’s never blinked at anything we’ve asked,” coach Mitch Johnson said. “He’s never shown any poor body language. He just attacks everything.”
2. Wemby and Draymond at it again
Midway through the second quarter, Warriors forward/chief instigator Draymond Green drew a flagrant-1 foul for shoving Wembanyama in the back on a rebound attempt.
Wembanyama couldn’t say he didn’t see it coming – at least metaphorically speaking.
“It’s not surprising,” he said.
Green and Wembanyama have a history, although Green tends to have a history with almost everyone in the NBA.
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His latest flagrant came as Harper swished a corner 3-pointer. Green came barreling through the lane, ostensibly chasing a rebound that never materialized.
Instead, he delivered a push to the small of Wembanyama’s back, sending the Spurs’ 7-foot-4 centerpiece sprawling.
At this point in his career, Wembanyama expects teams to try to play him physically, crossing lines at times.
That approach didn’t do Golden State much good Friday.
“It’s not a good basketball strategy and it the shows,” Wembanyama said. “I’m ready to put my body on the line for the team if that allows us to win by 40.”
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3. In Cup play, garbage time counts
Late in the third quarter, with the Spurs already ahead by 38 points, Johnson inserted backup point guard Jordan McLaughlin as a way to begin emptying his bench.
Given the NBA Cup stakes, it was a bit of a game.
Friday’s victory put the Spurs in the catbird’s seat of West Group C with a 2-0 record, the only team in their pod still unblemished in Cup play.
Golden State fell to 1-1, tied with the Los Angeles Lakers and Portland. Sacramento is 0-2.
In Cup play, however, margin of victory matters. If the standings come to a tiebreaker situation, the first is head-to-head record in group play.
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The second is margin of victory.
Give the Spurs’ deep bench group credit. They held on to the Spurs’ 38 margin to the final horn.
The Spurs have won their first two Cup games by a combined 53 points, giving them a sizable advantage in a tiebreaker that could come in handy down the road.
Turns out, even garbage time can count for something.
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This article originally published at 3 Takeaways as Castle breaks out in Spurs’ rout of Warriors.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
