After his historic Game 7 against Oklahoma City, Julian Champagnie stayed hot in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, knocking down five of his 10 three-point attempts while posting a 16 points, 10 rebound double-double. However, unlike that fateful Game 7, the Spurs lost tonight, and it was the Knicks who landed the first blow of the championship series.
As hard as he’s trying with his sizzling shooting, Champagnie won’t be able to keep hiding the fact that San Antonio as a whole is too inconsistent from three-point land. Their wins and losses have generally correlated with their performance from beyond the arc, and they need to find a happy medium to come back and defeat New York.
Julian Champagnie is pulling more than his weight from beyond the arc
Champagnie has been pretty steady from deep since the beginning of the OKC series. Counting tonight, he’s made two or more threes in six of his last eight games. Even in games the Spurs have lost, he’s shown up and done his job. The same can’t quite be said about his teammates.
Tonight, San Antonio hit 11 threes as a group, but Champagnie chipped in five of them, meaning everyone else was 6/33 (18.1%) from outside. In Game 5 against the Thunder, a loss for the Silver and Black, Juju was responsible for four of 12 total threes. In Game 3, the Spurs’ other most recent L, Champagnie made two of their 13 threes.
See the trend?
When everyone not named Julian Champagnie has found success with their jumpers, the Spurs have won. Game 7, for example, saw Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox both connected on three triples, with Dylan Harper and Keldon Johnson both adding two off the bench. But when the shots haven’t been falling, San Antonio has fallen short. JuJu can’t be the only guy having a good night for this team to be at its best.
The undeniable truth here is that the Spurs just aren’t the most trustworthy shooting team. It’s a worry that’s followed them all season. They’ve been able to evade it enough to reach the finals, but it could finally catch up to bite them here if they’re not careful.
The Spurs will have to hit more threes to keep up with the Knicks
Tonight’s Game 1 was decided more inside the arc, with the Knicks matching San Antonio’s tally of 11 treys. But the larger sample size says this was a rare off-night for the ‘Bockers, who ranked first in the playoffs in 3P% before tonight and finished fourth in that category during the regular season.
Looking up and down New York’s lineup, they have a lot of reliable shooters. Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, Landry Shamet, Deuce McBride… Meanwhile, outside of Champagnie, the Spurs have one: Devin Vassell.
Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper have shot above expectations in the postseason, but they’re still quite volatile. Wemby is prone to jumpshooting duds from time to time. Fox has had a rough year in that area.
One or more of those guys are going to have to step up, catch fire, and keep the torch across multiple games for the Spurs to capture the Larry O’Brien. They need to fight New York’s fire with fire. That’s what Julian Champagnie tried to do tonight, but he can’t do it alone.
