The five NBA games that took place on Christmas Day started off with a back-and-forth classic. In the end, the New York Knicks squeaked by with a 117-114 win over the San Antonio Spurs.
Much of the talk centered around 20-year-old wunderkind Victor Wembanyama. In his first game on Christmas, the 7-foot-3 big man finished with 42 points, 18 rebounds, four assists, and four blocks. It wasn’t enough though as Mikal Bridges dropped 41 points on 17-25 shooting in the Knicks victory.
The loss dropped San Antonio to .500 at 15-15. It was their second straight close defeat. The Spurs fell by five to the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday. The elder statesman on the team, Chris Paul, spoke on what the Spurs need to do to secure wins at the end.
CP3 Wants Spurs To Not Blame Being Young For Close Losses
Chris Paul Wants Spurs To Rebound And Finish Road Trip Strong
It was a disappointing loss for the Spurs who were up by eight at one point in the fourth quarter. As incredible as Wembanyama was, he last scored when there was still 7:44 left in the game.
Now in his 20th season, the 39-year-old Paul has certainly been in his fair share of close games in his career. Jeff Garcia of KENS5 shared some of Paul’s thoughts on Twitter. Paul stated,
“I think we’re just going to get to that point where all that young stuff got to go out the window. We’re pros just like everybody else. There’s a grit and a will you got to have in this league in order to figure out ways to win those games, especially on the road when we’re the only ones that’s cheering for us or whatnot. That builds character. We got two games left on this trip, we got to make sure we approach them with the proper feel.”
“All that young guy stuff got to go out of the window,” – Chris Paul post game v Knicks #nba #porvida #SANANTONIO #gospursgo pic.twitter.com/cZrdAJP0ai
— JeffGSpursKENS5 (@JeffGSpursZone) December 25, 2024
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The two games on the trip remaining that Paul is speaking about are on Friday against the Brooklyn Nets and Sunday against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
While the team does have a lot of youth, Paul isn’t the only veteran added this offseason. The team is also starting former NBA champion Harrison Barnes who is 32 years old. Other players who have accumulated a decent amount of experience in the league include Keldon Johnson (sixth season) as well as Tre Jones and Devin Vassell (both fifth season).
Still Much-Improved From Last Season
Despite the two close recent losses, San Antonio is still much-improved compared to last season. They finished 22-60 in 2023-24, just one game better than the last-place in the Western Conference, Portland Trail Blazers.
In a competitive West though, San Antonio will need to come through at the end of tight games to secure a playoff spot, or at least a Play-In Tournament opportunity. The Spurs are currently 11th in the West, but are just two games behind fifth.
As Paul mentioned, they also need to find ways to win on the road when the fans are against them. The Christmas Day loss dropped San Antonio’s away record to 4-8.
The post CP3 Wants Spurs To Not Blame Being Young For Close Losses appeared first on Last Word On Basketball.