In the wake of the Spurs taking Game 3, my mind is stuck on a postgame quote Dylan Harper gave about Stephon Castle, who hit two clutch free throws to seal the 115-111 victory on Monday.
Harper was asked by ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt about what makes his teammate smile. He replied, “Nothing.”
Stick with me. Let’s think about what Castle’s play has meant for the Spurs all season long. The drives speak for themselves, the playmaking has continued to grow and the defense has announced itself at every turn. Think about how in one playoff run he has taken that skill set and knocked on history’s door. Look at the players with the most 15+ point, 5+ rebound, 5+ assist playoff games in NBA history before turning 22 years old: Magic Johnson is No. 1 on the list with 11, LeBron James is third with 9, and it’s Castle who’s in second place with 10.
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Back to the smiling portion. When the Spurs were down 2-0, Castle himself delivered a bevy of quotes between games that raised some eyebrows. He emphasized confidence in the Spurs, and the fact they should have won both games. Being down 2-0 in the Finals was “nothing the Spurs couldn’t handle.”
Not only did he back that up with a 23-5-5 in Game 3. He did it in front of a New York crowd that has been waiting to see the Knicks find Finals glory for the first time in 27 years. He set the tone, then took the game away from them in the end.
Castle may not smile a ton, but his competitive will to win made sure the Knicks and their fanbase would walk away from Game 3 muttering, “Nothing to smile about in my life.”
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While a lot of the orbit and pull on the Spurs surrounds the play of Victor Wembanyama, remember: Wemby and Castle became the first pair of teammates 22 or younger to score 20+ points in an NBA Finals game. Many will point to Wembanyama’s aggression and mindset, his improved numbers in pick-and-roll, and his ability to get in the paint more and find ways to get rolls. But I raise the question:
How did he get there?
The Spurs’ guards were finally able to engage the Knicks’ bigs in pick-and-roll. And in my eyes, it’s Castle who set that tone early and often in Game 3. Let’s take a look.
Castle’s offensive impact
The Spurs have had to work to find consistency in the half-court and in pick-and-roll, and find ways to put pressure on both Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns. The Knicks had been finding comfort with their weakside defenders tagging Wemby early and taking his rolls away. Their wings were able to navigate and get back in front of drives, allowing the big to release even quicker to Wemby rolling.
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In Game 3, Castle did the work early. Driving in one direction to set up space to come off a screen. Reading space and understanding if KAT was stopping him from turning the corner, which meant Wemby was somewhere in the paint. Working to keep the defender behind him, engage the big, force the weakside to hold and make the right pass out of it.
The Spurs have used a V action (or a High Horns) with Wembanyama and a wing rising to screen for Castle. The idea is to allow Castle room to attack space high on the floor and get downhill. But the Knicks had done a great job of containing the drive, tagging the roll and taking options off the table. Castle and Wembanyama flipped that in Game 3.
Setting more solid screens forced overs, and Castle attacked KAT’s drop and engaged him. That forced the weakside to hold and opened up options for the Spurs: kicking to De’Aaron Fox, who can drive a closeout; finding Wembanyama somewhere in the paint if KAT engaged higher on the floor; or using patience to go with bursts of speed vs. a full turbo button and finish in the paint.
One thing to keep an eye on going forward in this series is how Castle is reading the floor and the Knicks’ defense. The more comfort that he has in changing speeds, reading where the defense is helping from and kicking to the perimeter, the more balance the Spurs could have in the half-court.
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Whether the Knicks are sending help on drives or early tags from the weakside, it’s a positive for the Spurs that he’s looking to make those plays in the half-court.
Castle’s defensive impact
It’s not easy to set the tone on both ends of the floor, but that’s what Castle brings to the table for San Antonio.
Castle is providing full-court pressure on Brunson. As the Knicks are working to try to move Wembanyama around the board and find mismatches, he is working to get them deeper into the clock. If you want to get to a Brunson/KAT P&R, it might come with 16 on the clock. And there may not be a screen because Castle might fight over.
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Those same efforts set the tone for the Spurs in the third quarter, silencing the heat the Knicks delivered in the second quarter. Crisp execution turned into deflections, and other Knicks were asked to initiate offense.
The screen navigation from Castle is also big for a Spurs team that needs to throw different looks at this Knicks offense.
Being able to fight over a screen, stick with a ball-handler, pass the drive off and recover to Towns popping is a subtle way to take away automatic reads. The Spurs can stay at home and not worry about overhelping as Castle works to recover to contest shots.
The icing on top for Castle in Game 3 were the key moments. The big 3-pointer will likely be added to the Spurs’ (seemingly endless) loop of dagger 3s. The block on Brunson’s drive in the fourth was more key than people may realize. And he made the free throws to push the lead back to four in the final seconds. Castle talked the talk, he backed it up and now … he has to do it again.
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I’m sure many will gravitate to Castle’s quote that he expects the Spurs to win three straight. The part that will likely be missed is that he mentioned they would have to do it game-by-game to walk the Knicks down.
If the Spurs are to even this series and win the championship, Castle will have to put his stamp on each of these games going forward. He will have to go from a tone setter to a consistent presence. Moats are not built to last forever, the best thing you can do is to keep digging.