It was a good time to start the opening night of the 2022-23 season for the San Antonio Spurs. It was Manu Ginobili Night to honor his induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and the start of the Spurs’ 50th anniversary season while they sported their George Gervin-era throwback jerseys, but that’s where the festivities ended.
If there was any question that this extremely young Spurs squad was going to need time to come together as a team, all doubts were erased quickly. While Hornets got just about any look they wanted early, the Spurs could hardly buy any offense, getting down by double digits just over four minutes into the game and only briefly making things look interesting again when back-to-back threes from Doug McDermott got them as close five, 20-25, with just over three minutes remaining in the first quarter.