San Antonio Scored Thirty-Nine In The First And Atlanta Still Stole The Game

San Antonio came out and put 39 points on Atlanta in the first quarter. Thirty-nine. The Hawks had 20. You watch a team get punched in the mouth like that and it's easy to assume the rest of the night is gonna be a beatdown, especially when the other side has Victor Wembanyama, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper. Instead Atlanta scores 42 in the second, 31 in the third and 30 in the fourth, then leaves San Antonio with a 123-116 win. That's a seven-point win after being down 19 at the end of one quarter. 😂 And the dudes that actually made me pay attention weren't even the names a casual fan is rushing to bet. Asa Newell scored 16 in 14 minutes on five-of-eight shooting, Kingston Flemings gave the Hawks 15 points, five assists and three steals, and Onyeka Okongwu chipped in 13 with five assists. Dyson Daniels had 13 points and 11 boards, which is exactly the kind of activity that can keep you in a game even when your offense starts like complete shit. San Antonio's young guards were good too: Harper had 16 with four assists, Castle scored 14 and Wemby put up nine points and six rebounds in 17 minutes. The Spurs had the first quarter. Atlanta had the part where somebody had to finish it.

The FanDuel angle here isn't me deciding Newell's about to average 30 points because he cooked some preseason reserves for 14 minutes. That's how you end up chasing a beautiful box score into a stupid bet. I want to know why he was a plus-21 in those minutes, whether he keeps getting actual offensive opportunities when Atlanta's full rotation is out there, and how Flemings' assists and steals fit around the veterans. Those numbers tell me something about what the rookies might bring without pretending the minutes are gonna be there every night. On the Spurs' side, Harper and Castle are already showing why the guard rotation is gonna be a conversation all season, but Wemby playing 17 minutes tells you this wasn't a normal San Antonio game. De'Aaron Fox didn't play either. So when I look at Spurs props later, I'm not gonna take a nine-point Wemby preseason stat line and act like the offense has fallen apart. I'm looking at role, spacing, who actually has the ball and who gets those second-unit possessions. Atlanta won the game, but the important thing for me is how both teams used the young guys once the starters started sitting.

Winning the first quarter is cool. Somebody gotta play the other three.6IX / OCTOBER 8