Victor Wembanyama must be human after all, and despite losing in the Emirates Cup Final, the San Antonio Spurs can cope, knowing $212,373 is waiting for them for whatever they have in mind. The two-way players get half of the pot, too, but more than the money, the ride is what coach Mitch Johnson thinks they’ll take most from it.
As a team on the come-up that wasn’t labeled a contender before the season started, the Spurs were playing with the least amount of pressure, and the young guys grew up a bit in these higher-stakes games. When playoff time rolls around, the Spurs will be one of the few who passed their postseason pre-check and will be mentally sharper. Keep in mind that the runner-up in previous years reached the conference finals or the NBA Finals.
Yet, as cool as Las Vegas is, these events would be better without a neutral court because fans are rowdier when they are seeing their team at home. For example, imagine how the Frost Bank Center would have turned into a madhouse if Wembanyama’s third-quarter flurry happened there. Or consider how the Knicks, who haven’t won anything important since 1973, and how Madison Square Garden’s lid would have flown off when OG Anunoby buried a triple to put them up eight in the last two minutes.
The third quarter was the most exciting sequence of the game as both squads combined for nine 3-pointers. All I could think about as both sides drained them was Cuba Gooding Jr. yelling, “Show me the money,” in the film, Jerry Maguire.
The Spurs have shown a lot of their basketball character through 30 percent of the season. Yet the lesson they can take away from blowing the fourth quarter is what not to do in a playoff game, like giving up the 3-point line and being sped up into tough shots.
Aside from not collecting a bigger check, the real loss for the Spurs is that they can’t practice future celebrations by drinking their preferred liquid refreshment from the Emirates Cup.