The Spurs blew out the Kings in the first game of a back-to-back to get their second win of the season and get back to .500. Victor Wembanyama had 29 points, 10 rebounds, and five blocks, while Julian Champagnie contributed 26 points off the bench.

An ideal start, with Wembanyama getting a couple of early dunks and Vassell an open three, foreshadowed how easy the game was going to be for the Spurs. The only thing that could keep the Silver and Black from scoring was themselves, in the stretches in which they played too much one-on-one basketball in the half court. The Kings’ defense had no answers, as helping inside resulted in open threes and not helping meant allowing good shots at the rim, but credit should go to San Antonio for taking the game seriously and executing well while also guarding with intensity.

As the minutes went by, and despite Domantas Sabonis’ efforts to stop it (at least on offense), the eight-point lead the Spurs had at the end of the first quarter started to grow steadily. Wembanyama was getting whatever he wanted inside, and the outside looks were falling. The shorthanded Kings couldn’t put together enough good lineups when their main guys rested to score enough to offset their glaring deficiencies on the other end. At the break, San Antonio was up 26 points after dropping 80 in total, and the game was effectively over.

The only thing left to be decided was whether the Spurs would be able to avoid a slump that forced Mitch Johnson to play his starters more than he wanted in the first game of a back-to-back. The answer was a resounding “yes,” as San Antonio kept playing hard and scoring at will. The Kings looked defeated, and while Zach LaVine poured in some tough buckets to make up for Sabonis slowing down on the offensive end, at no point did they look like a real threat. After three, the lead was 27.

The fourth quarter was garbage time. Only Dylan Harper played more than 30 minutes for San Antonio, which got to empty its bench early while securing an easy home win.

Observations:

• The Kings, missing several frontcourt players, simply have too many bad defenders to make any coverage work. The zone was a mess. Their switching was sloppy. The rotations were slow. They don’t have the rim protection to make the drop in the pick-and-roll work. Even some lineups that shouldn’t have worked on offense for the Spurs were able to put points on the board. The talent gap was just gigantic.
• Julian Champagnie made eight threes in the first half. His only misses were airballs. The “Champagnie has the hot hand” experience is amazing in part because it tends to feature some hilarious moments in which he gets so confident that he lets it fly, you think it’s going in, and it’s not even close. Then the next time around you prepare for a miss, and he swishes a tough look. He’s been such a fantastic find for the Spurs.
• Are the Spurs winning more challenges than in past years? It feels that way, and the broadcast made it a point to highlight the two successful ones from this game, so there’s probably some numbers to back it up. Every little thing helps, so if they have become better at challenging calls, that’s great.
• At the end of the third, when the rotation guys were on the floor, the Spurs’ bench was outscoring the Kings’ 30 to five. Even taking away Champagnie’s 24 points, they would have been up in that category. Sacramento is bad, but missing some important guys makes them awful.
• Devin Vassell finished with eight assists, the highest total in a game for him since the 2023/24 season. In the previous game, he had six helpers. Vassell has been adding to his game since he was drafted. Maybe this is the year he becomes a great passer for someone whose main role is to shoot.
• Kings rookie Darius Acuff Jr. is an exciting player taking full advantage of the bright green light he has in Sacramento. It took him 20 shots, but he finished with 19 points and five assists.
• It’s hard to take much away from games that are so lopsided, but it was good to see the Spurs play with effort and purpose even when up big. Hopefully that mindset will become a staple of the team this season.

For the opponent’s perspective, visit The Kings’ Herald.

The Spurs will fly to Utah to face the Jazz on Wednesday in the second game of a back-to-back. Utah will be without Jaren Jackson Jr., who is expected to miss up to eight weeks with an injury. It’s a good opportunity for San Antonio to secure a winning record for the first time this season.

The 0-3 Brooklyn Nets came to Boston Tuesday night to face the Celtics on the second night of a back-to-back. The scrappy Nets came to play in this game as they forced overtime on the final play of regulation. They outplayed the Celtics for large stretches of rregulation and overtime but Jayson Tatum was the hero in the final second of the game.

Boston survived a big scare at home, to hang on in a tight overtime win that went down to wire, 125-124. Boston was paced by Jayson Tatum who had 40 points and 8 assists, Paul George had 20 points and Derrick White had 16 points.

Boston started the game with its regular lineup of Jordan Walsh, Derrick White, Jayson Tatum, Paul George, and Mitchell Robinson, who currently have the 2nd-best net rating in the NBA. For the Nets, they started with Egor Demin, Nolan Traore, Michael Porter Jr., Julius Randle, and Day’ron Sharpe.

Both teams traded buckets to start the game as the scores were tied 4-4 before Michael Porter Jr. splashed a triple with Jordan Walsh draped all over him. Mitchell Robinson snagged a steal on an attempted lob pass and went down the other end, grabbing an offensive rebound for the putback deuce.

Boston started the slower of the two teams, shooting just 4-11 from the field after a scoring barrage last night.

Payton Pritchard scored his first points of the game midway through the first quarter as he checked in for a scoreless Derrick White at the point. A few plays later, Pritchard took on Michael Porter Jr. in a switch driving into the lane for the layup, scores tied at 20.

Jayson Tatum got downhill and skied a lob to Neemias Queta, who got the easy score at the two-minute mark, with Tatum with 3 early assists in the game.

Former Celtic Mo Wagner was beasting the C’s interior; his energetic play propelled the visitors into the lead with six quick points in six minutes. The feisty Nets up by 5 points after 12 minutes of play, scoring 26-31.

Derrick White finally got on the scoreboard to start the second quarter with a cutting layup, with Payton Pritchard with the dime. The Nets were the more aggressive team to start the second quarter and took an eight-point advantage at the nine-minute mark. Noah Clowney and Mitchell Robinson needed to be separated as things were getting chippy in the second.

Paul George was struggling to get into the game as he had two turnovers and two fouls in his first nine minutes of game action. He finally hit a fade away for his 4th point of the game, as Mazzulla was encouraging his squad to play with more effort from the sideline.

Jayson Tatum returned to the game and immediately drove into the lane to score on an aggressive drive. On the next play, JT got the ball and attacked the mismatch, getting fouled on the play; he made both free throws as scores were once again tied at 45.

Boston was struggling from the three-point line in the first half; they were just 2-16 from downtown after they poured in the points last night. Tatum was the best player on the floor for Boston as he poured in 15 points and 4 assists in the half.

Queta was whistled for his fourth foul before the half and took a seat, as it was a heavy first half. Despite all the fouls, the reach-ins, the flopping, and the chippy nature of the game, things were competitive after two quarters. Brooklyn took a 5-point lead at the half.

Paul George finally hit Boston’s third three-pointer of the game to start the second half, his ninth point of the game. Walsh and Tatum also connected from downtown as Boston came out of the half time break looking to get more shot attempts from three.

Jordan Walsh drilled his second straight triple from the corner in front of the Nets bench, Boston down by one point. Julius Randle was excellent for Brooklyn on both ends, he had 7 points in the third quarter after just six minutes of play before heading to the visitors bench.

Boston’s continued to struggle shooting the three late into the third, they would go 6-26 before Sam Hauser hit his first triple of the night to get the crowd up and back into the game. Baylor Scheireman had the high catch and release three-pointer from the corner to cut the scores back to just one point, 78-79.

Jayson Tatum and Sam Hauser both hit deep three-pointers as the crowd erupted to finish off the third quarter, the Boston faithful back into the game, 86-82. The Celtics outscored the Nets in the third, highlighted by a 16-5 run to finish off the quarter with eight three-pointers in total.

Scheierman, White, Queta, George and Hauser opened things for Boston in the fourth. Derrick White dribbled into the key and stuck the two pointer to start, Boston up by 8 points. The Nets came racing back into itcutting it back to 2 points.

Baylor Scheierman grabbed an offensive rebound and pushed the pace, he twisted in mid air and made a terrific pass to Paul George who skipped it over to Sam Hauser for the open three-pointer.

Michael Porter Jr. hit a pair of threes for Brooklyn, as the Nets were staying close. That forced Joe Mazzulla to go back to Jayson Tatum for the close out.

Mikel Brown Jr. hit the visiting teams thirteenth triple as they retook the lead. Jayson Tatum was fouled by Chaney Johnson and hit a pair of free throes to tie the game once more, 99-99.

Tatum went to the line for his 18th free throw of the game, Hauser banked home a jumper, the scores were tied at 104. Brooklyn were 50% from the field and 40% from three, with 3 minutes to go in the game as they had a slim lead. The Celtics were in the bonus to finish off the game, Derrick White hit a pair to give Boston a two point lead, 111-109.

Mitchell Robinson had a chance to ice the game but missed two free throws with 3 seconds to go. Brooklyn had a final chance to force OT and Mikel Brown Jr. made a corner fade away.

Julius Randle scored the first four points in overtime, with Paul George and Derrick White on the bench. They returned to action with 3 minutes to go. Mikel Brown Jr. drilled another three-pointer in overtime as the Celtics were up against it. Jayson Tatum drilled a foul line two-pointer for the big win in the final second of overtime that wasn’t pretty.

Boston next host the Chicago Bulls for the second time in a week for the NBA Cup, game 1 of East group C, on Friday night at 7:30 pm EST.

When Klay Thompson was still with the Golden State Warriors, he had a tradition for every time a teammate went up against their former teams. As the team met to prepare for the opponent, Thompson would single them out and shout, “They didn’t want you!”

It didn’t matter how long it had been since the player left the team, the circumstances of their departures, or whether there was any actual animosity. Zaza Pachulia facing the Milwaukee Bucks three years after they traded him to the Dallas Mavericks? “They didn’t want you!” Andre Iguodala playing the Philadelphia 76ers, nine years after they traded him, having played on three teams in the interim? “They didn’t want to!”

Reportedly, Thompson tried to get assistant coach Mike Brown fired up to face the Denver Nuggets, over two decades after Brown left his job as video coordinator for the team.

“They didn’t want you!” may be what’s echoing through the head of Jonathan Kuminga as he prepares to face the Warriors for the first time as a Minnesota Timberwolf. Thompson may have used hyperbole in his motivating efforts, but Kuminga can quite confidently believe that the Warriors certainly did not want him, after five up-and-down seasons since he was the 7th pick in the 2021 NBA draft culminated in a trade for center/future medical case study Kristaps Porzingis.

Kuminga faced the Warriors in March as a member of the Atlanta Hawks, shooting 1-for-9 and logging two points, four rebounds, and two assists in a 126-110 Hawks win. It wasn’t the strongest Warriors squad, considering that Jeenathan Williams played over 28 minutes in the game. (Williams is now employed in the Japanese B League, as is Forever Warriors Eric Paschall.)

There’s no reason to re-litigate Kuminga’s time with the Warriors. Interested readers can look at probably 100 articles and 10,000 comments if they want to go through it again. But it’s clear that Kuminga, who signed a prove-it contract with Minnesota late in the summer, believes he had more to offer than the Warriors let him show.

He’s on a one-year deal for $6.1M, with a player option for next season. Kuminga is averaging 11.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in 29.8 minutes per game as the Wolves’ starting power forward. He’s gone 7-for-15 on three-pointers, nabbed two steals per game, and turned the ball over only once in four games as Minnesota began the season with three blowout wins and a two-point overtime loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers Monday night.

They also lost Anthony Edwards in that contest. Edwards out up 47 points in 41 minutes, then he and the team decided his balky right knee needed arthroscopic surgery.

The All-Star guard and his 33.3 points per game will be out until December, meaning that someone needs to pick up the scoring slack. The most likely candidates are Ayo Dosunmu, who’s likely to join the starting lineup in place of Edwards, and one Jonathan Malangu Kuminga.

Edwards is averaging 26 field goal attempts this season, launching a staggering 11.3 threes per game. Kuminga isn’t going to match that outside shooting, but what he can do is provide at least a facsimile of Edwards’ unrelenting rim pressure. And he’ll never be more motivated to step into that kind of scoring role than he will when facing his former team and Steve Kerr, the coach he could never quite win over.

The drama only becomes more intense when you consider Kuminga’s primary defender might well be Yaxel Lendeborg, another Warriors lottery pick who almost instantly joined the rotation. Lendeborg is already rebounding, passing, and doing the little things Kuminga never quite mastered in five seasons with the Dubs — while also putting up points.

As for Lendeborg, he’ll have to wait until Nov. 18 when the Warriors visit the Dallas Mavericks for his own “They didn’t want you!” moment. Even though he’s a rookie, Yaxel can still get motivated after his old college coach, Dusty May, drafted Michigan teammate over him with the No. 9 pick.

And look out for a fired-up LaMelo Ball as well. Joe Lacob didn’t want you! And he deeply regrets it!

While Matisse Thybulle was playing for the Trail Blazers — the same team the Lakers hosted Tuesday night — he knew he needed to make a change to his shot. 

The results have not only led to a strong shooting stretch to kick off his tenure as a Laker but also a unique pregame shooting routine that’s paying off.

The eighth-year wing out of Washington has a unique twist to his pregame shooting routine: Thybulle cycles in “no-dip” 3s (when a player catches the pass and immediately shoots it from their chest or above their head without dropping the ball down around their waist) and one-handed 3s.

The origins of the No. 20 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft incorporating unorthodox shooting into his routine stems from working with Trail Blazers shooting coach John Townsend during 2024-25 as he was rehabbing from a preseason right knee surgery and sprained right ankle that sidelined him for the first 67 games that season.

“My shot has never been something I was confident in,” Thybulle told the California Post on Tuesday. “It was always an insecurity of mine.”

The most significant changes that were made to his shot: moving Thybulle’s right (shooting) arm more to the side and keeping his elbow more tucked in.

Townsend had Thybulle go through “platform shooting” to accommodate him not being able to always jump as he rehabbed from the lower-body ailments.

“And then I started to notice some differences,” Thybulle told The Post. “I was probably like a month out of being able to play again. And he’s like, ‘Well, you kind of have to decide now: Do you want to change your shot and stick to it and you can’t go back? Or keep shooting the way you’ve been shooting?’

“I was like, ‘But I want to change it.’ So then we just decided to just stick with the changes that we were doing, trust the work and not really worry too much about the results for a little bit.”

The changes yielded positive results.

After shooting 34.6% on 3s in 2023-24, Thybulle shot 43.8% from deep across 15 regular-season games in 2024-25 (albeit on small volume — 21 of 48) and 39.8% in 30 games in 2025-26 (37 of 93).

He entered Tuesday shooting 46.7% on 3s (7 of 15).

“So far,” Thybulle told The Post, “it’s worked out.”

The reason he incorporates the no-dip and one-handed 3s into his pregame routine is because it helps him maintain his shooting form. 

“It was a huge foundational piece of just having my hand under the ball next to my head and then shooting through it,” Thybulle said. “And it became something that we would go back to a lot if my shot started to float around or I wasn’t shooting the way I wanted to. And then it just became a thing of like, well, ‘Am I confident enough to shoot that in a game? Do I trust myself to shoot it?’”

The answer is yes, with Thybulle saying he took a “couple” of no-dip 3s with the Blazers last season.

He made his first no-dip 3 with the Lakers in the preseason during the Oct. 8 home win over the Kings. 

And he made his first of the regular season during the third quarter of Sunday’s road win over the Jazz.

“Having done it, I had gotten so many reps of it,” Thybulle told The Post, “I got pretty confident in that being a good shot.”

Thybulle’s taken enough no-dip 3s that he doesn’t consider it a unique shot.

“That’s just a part of my shot archetype and shot package,” he told The Post. “I actually prefer it at times.”

Thybulle added: “There’s less variables. When you catch a no-dip shot, you’re under the ball, you have to fully extend. Whereas when you catch a regular pass, dip the ball down sometimes, you catch it across your body, you bring it over. Gotta make sure your legs are under you. There’s just more pieces to it. Luka [Doncic] and [Austin Reaves] throw such good passes that if I put my hands up, I’m literally catching it in my shooting pocket and I can just finish it through.”  

Even though he doesn’t shoot the one-handed 3s in games, it’s also an important part of staying true to his modified shooting form.

“A bad habit I have in mind is my elbow gets out from underneath the ball,” Thybulle told The Post. “If you try to do that with one hand, you’re going to drop the ball. You can’t hold it. So it really forces you to be underneath the basketball. And then, you bring another hand and the carryover is really helpful.”

For Thybulle, the unconventional forms are all about “laying the foundation” for his shot: physically and mentally.

“It takes a level of confidence and not caring to shoot those shots in public,” he told The Post. “Because I’ll shoot one-handed shots to this day and just airball them. It’s the reason people shoot with two hands — it’s a hard shot. 

“For me, the willingness to shoot through those embarrassing moments and trust that this is something that helps me and can guide me to the way I want to shoot, that to me, more than anything … one part physical, another part mental. Just like getting that voice in your head that tells you like shoot the regular way so that you can make it. ‘Cause if you do it this way, you might miss and it’s going to be embarrassing. Just like free yourself of that and just like trust the process.”

The Washington Wizards play the Cleveland Cavaliers tomorrow night. Let’s preview this one.

Game Info

When: Wednesday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. ET

Where: Rocket Arena

How to watch: Monumental Sports Network

Injury Report

Wizards: Jamir Watkins and Tristan Vukcevic are out. AJ Dybantsa is questionable

Cavaliers: None

What to watch for

Washington is looking to get back above .500 after their loss to the Charlotte Hornets. Cleveland defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves, 127-125 yesterday in overtime at home. The Cavaliers will be tough for Washington to beat, but I’m looking forward to seeing the Trae Young vs. Donovan Mitchell battle. Go Wiz!

BOSTON — A year after the Nets’ much-scrutinized first-round draft class — an NBA-record five in all — Egor Dëmin has been its biggest saving grace.

One of those sophomores (Nolan Traore), who made his first start on Tuesday night, had been coming off the bench, another (Danny Wolf) is out of the rotation and two more (Drake Powell and Ben Saraf) were in the G-League on Tuesday as the Nets took on the Celtics.

Dëmin, 20, is carrying the huge class. But so far this season, he’s having a hard time even pulling his own weight.

Back at point guard with Mikel Brown Jr. still on a minutes limit, Dëmin has been wildly inconsistent, alternating between good and bad, with more of the latter.

“It’s going to be one of the most important parts for me,” said Dëmin.

“For me personally, I’m trying to figure it out. I’m a different type of player as I had been last year, so I’m just trying to figure out how to play within these players now, and everybody else is trying to play with me. That’s what teams go through. So, I’m not panicking. I’m excited for what’s coming next for us.”

Entering Tuesday, Dëmin was averaging 9.7 points, three assists and 2.7 rebounds on 30.8 percent shooting overall and 31.6 percent from behind the arc.

Every one of those stats was down from his rookie campaign.

Dëmin has been inconsistent, mustering just four points in the opener on 2-for-10 shooting and missing all five looks from 3-point range.

The young Russian bounced back in Cleveland, with 22 points on 5-for-10 from deep.

But Dëmin backslid the next night, managing just three points on 1-for-6 shooting to finish minus-20 in just over 19 minutes.

The greatest concern is Dëmin’s driving. After a rookie season that saw him get turned at the point of attack, he’s touching the paint more now. But he’s been ineffective once he gets downhill, going just 1-for-4 at the rim and missing his only dunk attempt.

That’s the next step for Dëmin.

“Yeah, effectiveness is important in the NBA in everything you do. You touch the paint, obviously you can spray it for your teammate to shoot a good shot, or you finish at the rim, dump off and so forth,” Nets coach Jordi Fernández said. “One of the conversations I’ve had with him is, last year I felt like everything went 1,000 mph. And right now, one year in, more games under your belt, now it feels like he has more control of what we can see or what he sees or doesn’t see. So again, we’re going to keep working with him and encourage him to keep doing the things that he does very well, but also keep improving in all those areas.”

Dëmin agreed that was the biggest area of improvement.

“One hundred percent,” he said. “That’s the ultimate goal for me, to be able to not just get there to get there but to get there to be efficient and score. And not just score, but create for others. That’s going to be the next step for me as a playmaker, being able to choose between finishing and finding someone else.”

The struggles aren’t limited to Dëmin.

The Nets dragged a winless mark into Boston, and looked disoriented on defense.

“Everybody was very excited for this season, and there’s certain expectations and goals. That’s [making] us a little too excited about it, a little anxious…which is not necessarily bad. We’ve just got to convert it into effort and into energy,” Dëmin said.

“I wouldn’t say pressure. … For us, it could be an inner pressure, just being able to be the best versions of ourselves. And how do you [improve]? Just by sticking together. That’s going to help us get on a deeper level of communication and understanding of each other. We just talked about it, being able to trust each other no matter what’s going on, what the game looks like. That’s gonna be the key.”