The San Antonio Spurs will head into the second game of a back-to-back after a tough win against the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night. The Spurs needed a fourth-quarter comeback to defeat Toronto, and will now take a short break against the Brooklyn Nets.
Brooklyn and San Antonio’s records are almost exactly reversed, the Spurs are chasing the No. 1 seed in the West, and the Nets are targeting the No. 1 draft pick. Brooklyn has lost five in a row, while the Spurs have won 10 in a row. In theory, Spurs should be able to win this game easily, but with back-to-back road games, you never know what could happen.
San Antonio defeated Brooklyn 118-107 in its home opener earlier this season. A lot has changed for the Nets since then. Exciting young players such as Nolan Traore and Drake Powell have emerged, but Cam Thomas, who scored 41 points against Spurs earlier this season, is not in the team. The Nets have enough talent to make things interesting, but if the Spurs continue to play well they should be on their way to an 11-game winning streak.
February 26, 2026 | 6:30 PM Central Time
Watch: FanDuel |Listen: WOAI (12:00 AM)
spurs injuries: Released by 1pm Central Time.
Nets injuries: Tyson Etienne – Out (G League), Chaney Johnson – Out (G League), EJ Liddell – Out (G League), Josh Minott – Questionable (G League), Ben Saraf – Out (G League)
The blueprint for protecting Victor Wembaneyama these days is simple. Stay as physical as possible and don’t put him in any position. This is the defensive style the Detroit Pistons and Raptors have used to slow him down in the Spurs’ last two wins. Brooklyn has the players it needs to execute this strategy on Thursday night. Nick Claxton is a strong and mean inside defender, and Dayron Sharpe is a good inside defender and rebounder. This will be another good test for Wenbanyama’s physical frontcourt.
The Nets are a young team and young teams make mistakes. They don’t have a true point guard other than Traore (who is only a rookie), so they tend to turn the ball over more. The Nets cough 15.5 times per game. San Antonio’s aggressive perimeter defense and Wenban Yama patrolling the paint should give them an advantage against the young Nets. Notice how De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle get into the passing lanes early to help the Spurs build a lead.
Devin Vassell shooting incident
Vassell has been red hot lately. He followed up his 28-point night against Detroit with a 21-point performance against the Raptors on Wednesday. In the last two games, the winger is shooting 12-for-17 from three. Vassell is trying to take advantage of teams over-indexing in Wembaneyama and taking running lanes away from the Spurs’ guards. He gets a lot of open looks and makes teams pay. San Antonio will look to bring Vassell into the mix early to keep their winning streak going against Brooklyn alive.