No Tony Parker? No problem! Dejounte Murray is just as good at this point.
No Kawhi Leonard? No problem! Kyle Anderson is just as… yeah.
Either the Spurs can truly make any lineup work with Popovich at the helm, or the Timberwolves are still feeling each other out, or both, because the Spurs put on a decent show without their star player. Thibodeau is probably so incredibly pissed right now. He’s probably still yelling.
Murray didn’t do much assisting for being the PG in a pass-heavy system, but we need to take it one step at a time. He did the first step: showing he can score the rock efficiently. Aside from one game last season, he didn’t show that at all, so it’s good to see that he has come into this season ready to play. Once he gets a few more games like this under his belt, we can work on step two: not being a black-hole chucker maniac who doesn’t even realize that there aren’t nine people trying to defend him.
Alright, I’m being hyperbolic. Wouldn’t it be rad, though, to see a Kobe-esque chucker in Popovich’s offense? What’s Kobe up to these days anyway? Can you say “unretirement”?