Five for Friday: The minutiae matters

Plus, the good version of the 2022-23 Spurs, how the Rockets mucked things up for San Antonio, and a couple of scapegoats who still deserve some praise.

Screenshot courtesy of Bally Sports Southwest

Fractions of a second. Sometimes that can be the difference between winning and losing in the lightning-quick, wildly talented NBA, where minutiae matters.

It’s taking a step or two farther up the court, leading by five points with 57 seconds remaining, just so your opponent faces ball-pressure instead of easily running into quick-hitting offense; it’s aggressively closing down space against a guy like Malik Monk, who would shoot from a phone booth if needed; it’s being decisive when calling for or waving off a screen, then being strong with the dribble or pass as defenders crowd your air space; and lastly, it’s sensing the presence of some of the best athletes in the world bearing down on you trying to make a play.

The final 57 seconds went terribly for the Spurs as a whole in their gut-wrenching 131-129 loss to the Sacramento Kings on Thursday, but for Malaki Branham and Zach Collins, it was the last 10 seconds that marred an otherwise great night for the duo.

With a chance to take the final shot in a tie game, Gregg Popovich decided to let his guys play rather than take a timeout to get organized — something he’s done often in the past, though perhaps not as much with a group so inexperienced in clutch situations. Branham, who certainly wasn’t accustomed to running point in the most critical of moments, waved off a Collins screen before passing to the big man, who was presumably turning to head in the direction of Devin Vassell for a dribble-handoff or flip-and-screen.

But it never got to that point. Instead, disaster.

Branham’s pass was more of a softball lob, and Collins, unaware of a hard-charging Sabonis behind him, failed to seal off the defender and complete the catch. A steal, an unimpeded dunk, and in the blink of an eye, the culmination of a 7-0 Kings run in the span of 50 seconds. Vassell had a chance to win the game with a tough 3-point attempt, and Jeremy Sochan mustered a last-ditch effort to tie off an offensive rebound, but both bounced harmlessly off the rim.

Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News was in Sacramento and had a chance to ask both Branham and Collins about the last costly turnover:

Here was Branham’s view of the game altering turnover:

“We were running a play for Dev. Zach came up,” Branham said “I thought he held (Sabonis) off. Next thing you know Sabonis reached in and stole it. That’s a hard one to actually read. I should have waited a second or two, instead of turning the ball over.”

Here was Collins’ view:

“I’m supposed to set a screen, and (Branham) is supposed to come off and throw me the ball,” Collins said “He waived off the screen. I was like, ‘Cool.’ Sabonis did a good job. I didn’t feel him behind me. I thought he was far behind. I went soft for the ball. That’s what happens when you do that, they steal it.”

Both Malaki (21 pts, 4 ast, 2 stl, 5-5 3P) and Zach (22 pts, 7 reb, 4 ast) played arguably their best games of the season for 47 minutes and 50 seconds on a night those performances were sorely needed with Victor Wembanyama back in San Antonio nursing a sprained ankle. But it’s those final 10 seconds that will be remembered for a couple of guys you’re not used to seeing initiate offense under that kind of pressure.

They’ll learn, though. And it’s far from out of the question they’ll face a similar scenario again at some point during their Spurs careers.

If anything, they understand better today than they did yesterday that the minutiae does indeed matter.

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Five for Friday

Good version of the 2022-23 spurs
Smothering Wemby
How to defend the big boys
Turnovers!
Tying it to the top