As the San Antonio Spurs’ best perimeter defender, Stephon Castle often gets the assignment against the opposing team’s best guard.
Castle has had some difficult defensive matchups over the last two series, guarding Shai Gilgeous-Alexander throughout the Western Conference Finals, and now Jalen Brunson in the NBA Finals.
Brunson finished Game 1 of the championship series with 30 points, 13 of which came in the fourth quarter as the New York Knicks notched a 105-95 victory on the road.
After Game 1, Castle was asked about the biggest differences between defending SGA and Brunson.
“They’re very similar in some ways,” Castle said. “Shai, he’s more of a threat to get downhill, get all the way to the basket.”
“Jalen, he likes to use angles a lot more, pump fakes. Get to his spots,” Castle added. “Not really trying to draw fouls as much, trying to get to his midrange and spots where he likes.”
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Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 25.9 points per game through seven games in the Western Conference Finals. He did all he could against the Spurs in Game 7, dropping a game-high 35 points in the closeout contest.
Brunson scored his 30 Game 1 points on 12 of 31 shooting.
“I thought we did well,” Castle said. He made some tough shots late. I feel like a lot of his buckets were loud because they were back-to-back. It hurt a little bit more. We did a pretty good job on him.”
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Game 2 will tipoff at 8:30 p.m. ET on Friday.
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