Injured Spurs guards expected to play in pivotal Game 4
spurs-guards-wembanyama-game-4
The San Antonio Spurs anticipate having both starting point guard De’Aaron Fox and backup Dylan Harper available when they host the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 4 on Sunday, according to ESPN’s Tim McMahon.
Fox, who missed the series opener with a high ankle sprain, returned for Game 3 but moved noticeably slower than usual, the San Antonio Express-News reported. The 28-year-old aggravated the ankle again in the third quarter when Thunder wing Luguentz Dort landed on it during a scramble for a loose ball, yet finished the contest. “Once the pain subsides for a little bit, I felt like I was fine,” Fox said. “I was able to move a little bit, so I wanted to still be out there.”
Harper strained his adductor late in Game 2 and was similarly limited Friday night, scoring just six points on seven shots after averaging 15.5 points over the previous 11 games.
Wembanyama pushing for more team focus
Rookie standout Victor Wembanyama, 22, has drawn widespread praise for his postseason play but believes he must do more to elevate teammates after consecutive losses—San Antonio’s first since January. “I feel like I’m having trouble making my teammates better right now,” he told ESPN. “I need to be more of a team player, facilitate better, rebound the ball better, push their defense a little bit further and see how much they need to help with my teammates and then feed them.”
Head coach Mitch Johnson added that the club must adjust offensively because it spent the regular season relying on Harper, Fox and rookie Stephon Castle to exploit the advantages created by Wembanyama’s presence—an approach harder to sustain with two guards slowed by injuries, he told the Express-News.
Limiting free throws a priority
Johnson is also emphasizing discipline on defense after Oklahoma City attempted 26 free throws in Game 3; star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander accounted for 12 of those trips. “I think probably half of them were from us being undisciplined first off the floor,” Johnson said. “He got us out of position and took advantage of it.”
Wembanyama called Sunday’s matchup “a good measuring stick” for a roster experiencing the postseason for the first time. “Of course, there was going to be hard trials. It is to be expected. But now, we’re going to see what we’re made of,” the newly crowned Defensive Player of the Year said.
Source: Hoops Rumors
