Spurs Worried? Stephon Castle Reveals 'Mentality' Adjustment Needed

Stephon Castle went 0-of-4 from 3-point range in the first half of the San Antonio Spurs’ season opener Tuesday. After halftime, he went 5-of-8 from deep.

Castle finished with a team-high 24 points on 9-of-21 shooting, plus 7 rebounds, in a 116-104 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder at Frost Bank Center. He had 5 points at the break, with San Antonio down 65-44. Those came on an and-one layup midway through the first quarter and a pull-up jumper in the final seconds of it.

Castle said the Spurs “got excited with shots” in the first half, settling for the first good look instead of making Oklahoma City work on defense.

“It wasn’t really anything that I did differently,” Castle said. “I think moving off the ball a lot more, just constantly staying ready to shoot, not letting the ball surprise me.”

“Just our spacing, whether I’m in a dunker or Vic is in a dunker or [Dylan’s] in a dunker, just trying to keep guys low to give our guards driving gaps,” Castle continued. “It’s something that we definitely talked about. So just fixing up our screening angles and getting hits, forcing overs so we can touch paint and get the ball reversed.”

Castle scored 11 points in the third quarter, 9 of them on 3-pointers. His layup with 6:05 left in the period made it 74-67, capping a 23-9 San Antonio run to start the half.

Castle made 5 of the Spurs’ 10 3-pointers, and 10 of his points came in transition. He also had 3 turnovers and 4 personal fouls.

Spurs coach Mitch Johnson started Castle alongside De’Aaron Fox and Dylan Harper, with Devin Vassell and Victor Wembanyama. Before the opener, Castle said he was comfortable in the three-guard lineup.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 32 points on 13-of-27 shooting, with 3 steals and 3 blocks. He went 3-of-7 from 3-point range and 3-of-4 at the line. Castle usually draws that assignment.

“I think just really trying to be physical with him, but physical enough to where you don’t bait yourself into a foul,” Castle explained. “It’s probably the hardest part.”

“But it’s not really an individual thing,” Castle added. “It’s more of a team thing. And I think that goes for any good player in the league. I usually get the assignment, but for the most part, it’s not all me. It’s usually a team thing. So all around, I feel like we could have did better and made it a lot tougher on them. But just trying to keep our physicality up but being smart.”

The teams last met on May 30, when the Spurs eliminated Oklahoma City 111-103 in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals at Paycom Center. Castle scored 16 points that night. San Antonio took him fourth overall in the 2024 NBA Draft, a few months after he won a national championship as a freshman at UConn.

Before the playoffs, the Spurs had beaten Oklahoma City in five of their six meetings. One of those wins was a 111-109 decision in the NBA Cup semifinals in Las Vegas.

Losing Game 1 of 82 still hurts Castle as a competitor.

“I think that’ll be there pretty much every time we see them, for the most part,” Castle said. “Two pretty young teams that are really good and really talented and are trying to fight for the same thing in the West. So every time we see them, it’ll be a tough one.”

Jared McCain scored 20 points for the Thunder and went 6-of-8 from beyond the arc. Castle said the early damage came from not running Oklahoma City’s shooters off the line and not closing out to touch.

Wembanyama finished 1-of-13 from the field. He went 10-of-12 at the free-throw line and had 13 rebounds.

Early shots were not falling for anybody, Castle included.

“I think just getting the ball in better spots,” Castle said. “When we screen for him, make sure we get his guy off of him. But for the most part, any time another team plays us, they’re going to be super physical with Vic, so yeah, he had a bad shooting night, but he did a good job getting to the rim. He turned a couple shots that he usually shoots down to make a play for other people, so it’s, it was the first game of the season.”

“We all know Vic will find his rhythm, so that’s not something that we’re really worried about,” Castle noted.

Friday’s game against the Houston Rockets tips off at 8:30 p.m. CT at the Moody Center in Austin. They visit the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday.