Shocking Stephon Castle truth proves turnovers are least of Spurs' OKC problems

Despite a 1-1 series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs fans are undoubtedly concerned about the play of Stephon Castle. His 21 turnovers in the first two games of the series set a dubious NBA record, but that is only part of his problem.

Castle has been surprisingly ineffective guarding Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, according to ESPN Stats and Info. Per ESPN, Gilgeous-Alexander is 10-19 for 24 points across two playoff games against Castle.

That isn't what the Spurs were hoping for. Especially with him already struggling with turnovers.

Stephon Castle has to be better defensively

Castle has mostly played well offensively, turnovers aside. Still, if he can't reign in his turnovers and be more effective guarding Gilgeous-Alexander, San Antonio doesn't have much of a chance in this series.

Hopefully, De'Aaron Fox will return in Game 3, cutting the amount of time Castle spends with the ball in half. His turnovers tend to drop like a stone when paired with Fox, which should keep OKC out of transition.

Forcing the Thunder to beat the Spurs in the half court is crucial and gives Castle his best chance to stop Gilgeous-Alexander.

Castle cutting down on mistakes is crucial to the Spurs beating the Thunder

Potentially having Fox back would take the pressure off of Castle. It would also allow him to put in more effort on the defensive end.

Ironically, after struggling with foul trouble in the first two rounds, he has yet to have that problem against the Thunder in the playoffs. That may be a sign that he isn't giving maximum defensive effort because he knows he needs to stay on the floor against OKC.

It's hard to knock him for that considering that if he had been in foul trouble in Game 1, San Antonio almost certainly would have lost that game. However, San Antonio needs him to put more pressure on Gilgeous-Alexander if they hope to topple the Thunder.

That begins with Castle limiting turnovers and thus OKC's ability to get out in transition. Turning them into a half-court team would go a long way to helping Castle defensively against the reigning MVP.

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