Revel in the awesomeness of Lonnie Walker’s first extended minutes for the Spurs

There was practically nothing fun about the Spurs blowout loss to the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday. It was a loss with seeding implications on the line, nothing more to be said, right? Not so fast. If you decided to be a trooper and suffer through garbage time, your dedication was rewarded: you got a to see Lonnie Walker IV play his first extended minutes for San Antonio.

He did not disappoint, posting 16 points (tying LaMarcus Aldridge for the game-high) in 16 minutes on 6-11 from the field, including 3-5 from three. And if you need a reminder, it wasn’t all against fellow third-stringers. Mike Malone kept several of his starters, including Nikola Jokic, in until about the 6-minute mark of the fourth quarter.

The coast-to-coast lay-up with the third-quarter winding down was a nice display of the speed and maneuverability he possesses. The nifty lay-up was a thing of beauty, and most importantly he showed no hesitance in pulling up from three: something that was considered the biggest weakness in his offensive game coming out of college.

However, the best moment was one of the few times he didn’t score: on a long, high-flying dunk attempt that came up short but drew a foul. That was an eye-opener, a reminder to everyone claiming the Spurs need to get more athletic that they are in fact working on it, and a comical moment thanks to the reaction from the Nuggets’ bench. If only it had gone in...

Walker may get a chance for even more meaningful playing time tonight against the Wizards due to Marco Belinelli being ruled out with a sore hip. The Spurs have a lot on the line with each of their remaining three games, so would you trust giving Beli’s minutes to Walker? Is he ready to take on big responsibilities in a big game in non-garbage time? Maybe this will be a chance to find out.