Last-Minute News, Rumors, Reports before Spurs vs Mavericks

The Spurs are 0-2, the sky is falling, the internet has already deemed this season over, Wemby can't get a look, the three-guard lineup is broken, Dylan Harper should go back to the bench some people are saying, I'm reading the post-game threads everywhere so you don't have to, and that is basically the gist of what a lot of fans are saying. But I've got a different tune. We got to dive into the last-minute news, rumors, reports, updates for this game versus the Dallas Mavericks, and things are about to turn around in a big way. We got quotes from all kinds of people and a very good reason to believe that this is the turnaround that the Spurs need because the numbers show that Dallas, well, they're a team that you can really take advantage of, especially with their injuries, now that you're 0-2 and hungry. But look, I can't just be all sunshine and rainbows positive because there's a reality to this 0-2 situation. I'm not going to sit here and pretend that it's absolutely nothing. We saw opening night. The Thunder beat the Spurs 116-104. Wemby went 1-13 from the field. Then Friday in Austin against the Rockets. they lost again 114 to 110 an incredible ending to the game they came back from 11 down but then after a minute Thompson blocked Wemby's layup with less than a second left it just ripped our hearts out not to mention the timeout called by Mitch Johnson is its own story Wemby hit the three but the timeout was already called to be fair i don't know if he would have shot that if he didn't know what timeout was coming but it was just a chaotic end to a game that we knew the spurs needed to win. Put the two games together, Wemby's 10 for 34 from the field, 29.4%, 2 for 10 from 3, and the team is 22 for 74 from 3, just under 30% so far through two games. You can check each one of these box scores for yourself, free on DigestSports.com by the way. So no, I'm not going to sit here and say everything is fine, the offense has been buffering, I guess is a way to put it. Two games and there have been some significant problems, but the main one being the ball just isn't going in the net as much as you need it to. Two games is two games, and as of Thursday night after the 0-1 start, Kalshi still had Wemby as the MVP favorite at 31%, and he's going to want to continue to increase that share. You know what ruins a great outfit fast? An old beat-up belt that just doesn't quite fit right, because most guys, even like myself until recently, have been using these old stretched-out belts that pinch or sag, and they just throw off your whole fit, which is why I'm very excited to announce that Anson Belt & Buckle is the sponsor for today's video. Instead of holes, Anson belts use a micro-adjustable track system with quarter-inch increments so that your belt fits perfectly every single time. And once you experience that kind of comfort, trust me, you will never want to go back to a traditional belt. I have been wearing mine non-stop since I got it. It is the best belt I've ever owned, and trust me, I know you will not want to go back. But if you're looking for just another reason to trust Anson Belt & Buckle, they're a family-owned and operated company with over 40 000 five-star reviews and back a lifetime guarantee on the belt's functionality I especially like this review from Tyler who highlights a lot of the concerns that I had about belts before but just proves why Anson is so reliable they look great they last solid construction and you're supporting a smaller family-owned business they stand by every single product they make and once you get one you will see why and because Anson Belt and Buckle is sponsoring today's video when you click the link in the description or scan this QR code to build a box set you get two bonus pieces a buckle and a strap completely free that's three buckles and three straps which can be mixed and matched to make nine unique belt combos all in one box it's an exclusive deal you won't get anywhere else so click the link build your set and upgrade your belt game today so tonight big game 8 p.m. Eastern 7 p.m. Central in Dallas the Mavericks home opener on the Spurs side we got some good injury news before last game, as De'Aaron Fox and Keldon Johnson were both cleared after being listed questionable. Fox played through a bit of a right wrist sprain. He had 19-9 on very efficient shooting. Yeah, a few turnovers, but it is what it is. The thing is, though, Tobias Harris and Jaden Quaintance were still both out. So, unless tonight's report says otherwise, I would expect the same starting five. On to Dallas, though. The Mavs are currently 1-1. They lost their opener to Houston, but went to Indiana on Friday and crushed the Pacers. A 44-point first quarter helped propel them to a 121-105 win. Kyrie Irving led them in scoring with 24, but the big question is Cooper Flagg. He left that Indiana game in the second quarter with a sore left shoulder after a bit of a hard foul from Neesmith that has Mavericks fans up in arms. And look, he finished with 14 points in 17 minutes, but you're going to want to closely monitor the injury reports right before tip because depending on Cooper Flagg's status, it completely changes the outlook of this game for San Antonio. Not to mention Dallas is still without Derek Lively. So PJ Washington and rookie Mares Johnson Jr. have been playing a bit of the five. And this is night two of a back-to-back for both the Spurs and the Mavericks. The Spurs just played in Austin on Friday, though, so a much shorter commute than the Mavs, who had to come all the way down from Indiana. So I'm taking the team with the shorter commute and the team that is definitely much more hungry for this victory. Now let's hear from the guy in charge, a guy that a lot of fans have not necessarily been happy with after the somewhat stagnant offense through these first few games, Mitch Johnson. He's been asked about the first loss the second loss from every angle so here are some things that he had to say we remember after the thunder game he said quote however many guards we played they all struggled tonight and it was a pretty well-rounded poor effort by all of us then two days later he said we all participated in just not playing up to our standard in a clean game saying the spurs have had a good cleanup on the court since then after the houston loss he said late when we played properly and appropriately how we're supposed to our offense looked really good the bench made a run in the fourth and then the starters had their best stretch of the night which is true but then he also said we probably could have done some work earlier and about Wemby quote he's got to the baseline quite a few times and has a really good feel when he gets underneath the backboard I mean he's saying some of the right things I do feel like part of these things that he's saying the team needs to do does land on his shoulders but it is still early and to the fans worried about this 0-2 start keeping it short and simple I hope they stay around for the next 80 Dylan Harper's answer was to ask how many games were left, 80. Then he said, it's not going to be perfect from day one. And I agree, especially when you have different lineups, different starters still missing that true power forward in Tobias Harris, which is something that has been sorely missed so far. But that's clearly the tone right now. It's that there's no panic, no blaming one guy. It's a coach who's not going to blow up the lineup after an 0-2 start. And honestly, I kind of like it. We still have to see how this Spurs team functions, even though it has been a bit of a rough start there's no doubt about it but we got to talk about this Wemby thing because there are certain people even myself included during yesterday's game more so against the Thunder saying oh he just he can't get good looks and I think that's half right but I think there's more to it than just that last season he shot 51.2 percent from the field scoring 25 points a game over 64 plus the you know the NBA cup games are 65 regular season games this season so far 10 for 334 is definitely a far cry but again small sample we go back to the quote we've mentioned a few times from Fox saying there are times we want to play faster try to make his catches a little easier to where he doesn't always have to create for himself and I think that was something we did see a little bit especially early in this Houston game where Wemby started three for five shooting a few dunks things were going well and KD Kevin Durant who just played against him said this about Wemby's next step quote just make the game easier for you I think that's everybody's next step though, not just his. And we saw what those kind of looks could do for Wemby in this last game against Houston. Look at the play-by-play. At least four of his nine makes came off a pass from Fox or Castle. Three of them dunks, including two alley-oops. It's exactly what we want to keep seeing, and we saw them looking a little more actively for passes underneath the basket to Wemby when he was there. And overall, Friday wasn't a bad game. He had 25 and 13, keeping another block streak alive, but he just didn't get that last bucket. So tonight, I'm going to say a similar thing to what I said yesterday watch those first five shots yesterday it ended up as a good game he started three for five some dunks this game against the Dallas Mavericks if he's getting more alley-oops some more dunks I think we could be very good if it's five step back threes off the dribble maybe then we got a problem but I don't think that's going to be the case now we move on to Dylan Harper because there's a take I've been seeing all over the internet and it's about whether Dylan Harper should go back to the bench and it seems like there's a vocal I don't know if it's minority let us know down below but a vocal set of fans seem to think that the bench absolutely needs him to keep the spurs rolling i mean i get it on one hand the shooting has struggled and he's one for six from three this year and when you put Fox, Castle and Harper on the floor with Wemby the spacing does look tight even if Vassell is hitting his three so it's a fair question but look at what Harper has actually been doing 20 points on 8 of 15 shooting after starting fairly inefficiently he started making more baskets as the game went on an incredible dunk late, right on, I think it was Shang-Goon, he knows how to score those clutch baskets. He played almost 36 minutes, no turnovers, the Spurs were plus four with him on the floor, which was the second best on the team, behind only Champagnie, and Champagnie was a team worst against OKC, because look, plus minus is noisy, Fox scored 19-9, but was a minus 14, but Harper's night was not the problem. But to the lineup data, the starting five of Castle, Fox, Harper, Vassell, and Wemby was minus 11 in 11 minutes against Houston. 15 points scored, 26 allowed. Not so great, but let's look at this lineup from a different angle. If you swap Castle out for Champagnie and the same group with Harper still in it was plus 10 in six minutes. 19 points scored, nine allowed. Again, small sample. So I'm not building some big old theory here based on just six minutes of in-game action, but it clearly shows that Harper is not the problem when he's the floor and I don't think anyone was saying that necessarily I think it's just more for the bench punch but still I don't mind playing a guy opening the game when his numbers are looking this good with Dylan Harper plus Harper has a bit of a history against Dallas and four wins last season he was a plus every single night 5 8 14 and 15 a total of plus 42 in 91 minutes against the Mavs last year my take is you just can't put him on the bench and I get it he's going to close games no matter whether he starts or comes off the bench but the impact data just watching what's happening looking at the lineups that work with him they work when he's on the floor so i say you still have to put him out in the starting lineup but if this one for six three point shooting trend continues in a couple over the course of a couple weeks should i say maybe maybe you can ask me again then i mean i seem awfully confident right now that this is the game where you get back on track the get it right kind of game well why is that because of the mavericks sorry to mavericks fans if you're watching but like there are reasons i'm gonna get into them the spurs beat dallas four times in a row last season Wemby averaged 31.3 points in those four games shooting a cool 61.1 percent from the field 44 for 72 Wemby even had two 40 point games against them last year 40 on 15 of 21 shooting on opening night oh that's step back in dallas last year and 40 on 14 of 23 shooting on april 10th steph castle had a 40 point game against them too 15 of 19 on february 7th in his three games against dallas last season he scored 80 points on 31 of 44 shooting that is insanely efficient and the last time the spurs lost to dallas it was back on march 10th 2025 that is nearly 600 days ago now if you go back a bit further to Wemby's early days he did lose his first four games against Dallas but since then four wins in a row and we're hoping that he can continue now I still do want to respect the Mavericks I know they've had a bit of a transition with their roster from Luka to AD and now again Kyrie PJ Washington cool 20 and 13 on Friday Cooper Flagg is turning into a superstar and if he's healthy he can change the game they can score they put up 121 points but still I think San Antonio just edge them out. And looking at their season opener, Houston scored 128 on them, shooting 53.4% from the field. Dallas turned it over 21 times and got out-rebounded 42-33. And we can't forget Wemby just grabbed 13 boards on Friday, so you can see where I'm going with this. And from the Spurs side, we played the Thunder, who we beat in seven games last spring for sure, but they were and continue to be one of the top contending teams in the league. And then a Houston team with Durant, Klay Thompson, Shangguan and an incredible defense with Marcus Smart and adding Fred VanVleet back after that knee injury the spurs are not a bad team right now it's just a team getting kind of punched in the face by two really good teams as well sometimes you just take those ups so here's my watch list for tonight number one easiest thing wemby's first five shots number two the three point line the 22 for 74 three point shooting cannot continue if the spurs want to get consistent wins if that number comes up they're going to start winning a lot more games a lot more smoothly number three check the score at half just check the score early they were down by like 20 against the thunder double digits again against houston fairly early and wemby said it himself we need to stop getting down on teams getting down double digits so my pick it's easy i think the spurs win i think wemby gets 30 plus points and i think harper continues his strong start to the season getting a cool 20 plus let us know in the comments down below do you start Dylan Harper tonight maybe do you give Champagne the nod for some extra shooting? Let me know. It's 0-2. It's not 0-82. Be loud tonight. Get hyped. Go Spurs, go baby.