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To win an NBA championship, a team needs to win 16 playoff games. The majority of the players on the Spurs entered these playoffs without ever playing in an NBA playoff game, let alone winning one, or 16. The Spurs coach is also essentially a rookie, with just over one year of being a head coach — and no NBA playoff experience as either head or assistant coach.
However, the Spurs’ best player had faced the pressure of playing in an Olympic gold-medal game, at home, against a USA team filled with former MVPs and numerous previous gold medals. The Spurs’ second best player ran the table during his one college season, winning the six intense March Madness games necessary to win the NCAA championship. Of course, that is putting the best possible spin on the fact that Victor Wembanyama is only 22, while Stephon Castle is 21. The Spurs third guard, rookie Dylan Harper, is 20, while key bench contributor Carter Bryant, also a rookie, is 20 and looks 16. How young is Bryant? This is how he described Gregg Popovich:
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“It’s funny because you hear the stories about him being tough on guys and, obviously, he’s not my head coach, so I don’t kind of get that same experience,” Bryant said. “But I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’ This dude is the sweetest, nicest guy. He’s dope.”
Yes, Bryant became the first person in history to describe Pop as “dope”. Bryant is also one of the few 20-year-olds sent in the game specifically to cover a player as good as Anthony Edwards — and he loves the assignment.
And look at this picture from Game 6 in Minnesota, with the Spurs about to go up 54-27 (yes, 54-27) after Victor made this free throw:
The five Spurs in that photo were on the floor on the road in a crucial playoff game. Their ages? 20, 20, 21, 22 and 25 (Devin Vassel is the ancient one). I asked AI if those were the youngest five players to be on the floor together in an NBA playoff game. AI gave me this response:
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“Oops, something went wrong.”
Thanks, AI. I guess you won’t be taking over the world quite yet. I think I can answer my question:…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/young-spurs-halfway-020000010.html
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Publish date : 2026-05-17 02:00:00
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