Spurs’ Devin Vassell labels teammate NBA’s ‘best perimeter defender’

As the old basketball adage goes, “defense wins championships”. The San Antonio Spurs took this to heart and delivered one of the best defensive performances of the season, slowing down the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals en route to a 103-82 victory.

The Thunder could not get anything going on offense, and unlike in Games 2 and 3, their bench was nowhere to be seen to bail them out. OKC shot 33 percent from the field (30/91) and 18.2 percent from deep (6/33). Even Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who typically gets it done for OKC through putrid shooting nights, managed to score just 19 points on 6-15 shooting from the field.

It takes a village to slow down Gilgeous-Alexander, and the Spurs know it. They are throwing so many defensive looks at the reigning two-time MVP, with Stephon Castle drawing the brunt of the matchup. But Castle stood tall, especially in Game 4, earning himself some much-deserved flowers from his pineapple express duo, Devin Vassell.

“Best perimeter defender in the league,” Vassell said of Castle in his postgame presser, via the official NBA account on X (formerly Twitter).

Castle may not be widely regarded as an elite perimeter defender quite yet, but he certainly has the physical tools to make life hell for even the best perimeter scorers in the NBA. He came into the NBA with natural defensive instincts, and he stands at 6’6″ with a 6’9″ wingspan.

Victor Wembanyama may get all the plaudits for being perhaps the most impactful defender of his generation, but the Spurs have surrounded him with a rigid defensive backbone, which starts at the point of attack. And Castle’s size, speed, and length makes him quite the tricky problem for the Thunder to solve.

The Spurs are going to have to continue to lock in as a unit as they come to within two wins away of making it back to the NBA Finals.

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