Spurs must come to grips with depressing reality holding their offense back

With the San Antonio Spurs on pace to win 55 games for the first time in years, it's hard to find faults with this team. Even so, cracks have begun to emerge as the season has wore on.

Despite the Spurs having the much-discussed point-guard trio of De'Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, and Dylan Harper, they have taken to playing them two at a time. Some combos have been better than others, with the Harper and Castle pairing being surprisingly bad.

Some of that has to do with recent injuries to Victor Wembanyama and Devin Vassell, taking two of their best shooters out of the lineup. Combine that with the declining play of Harrison Barnes, and suddenly that Harper and Castle pairing looks pretty sketchy thanks to a lack of shooting.

Shooting is key to that pairing working, and putting them next to, say, Luke Kornet means that the Spurs would be playing three non-shooters. Doing so has resulted in those two guards struggling to get to the rim and finish at the basket with opposing teams packing the paint.

Even when one of Harper or Castle passes out, the Spurs have no way of punishing teams from three with no Vassell, a slumping Barnes, and the other guard on the perimeter.

The Spurs must avoid the Harper and Castle pairing in the short term

At least temporarily. Vassell should be back soon, and Wembanyama is starting again, while Barnes may be losing minutes. Having Vassell back, Wemby playing big minutes and shooting well, and Barnes possibly losing playing time to Julian Champagnie would all help the Harper and Castle pairing.

We've already started to see individual signs of life for those two players. Castle scored 20 points and chipped in 8 assists against the Oklahoma City Thunder, while Harper had 15 points against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Spurs need more shooting around that duo

That was his best game in recent weeks, with him struggling recently. Especially with a lack of spacing. He also hasn't been shy about taking threes, even though both he and Castle are shooting below 26.2% from deep on a combined 6.6 attempts per game.

Them taking those shots has helped the Spurs rank in the top half in 3-point attempts. While they haven't helped the Silver and Black's 3-point percentage, Harper and Castle getting comfortable taking those shots in a game setting will hopefully help their long-term development.

After all, it's a swing skill for both players and could decide whether that pairing or the Spurs' point guard trio will be a success in the near future. What we know now is that the Castle and Harper pairing hasn't been especially effective with the Spurs' recent shooting troubles.

Hopefully that will improve as the season wears on. Otherwise, it could spell trouble for the Silver and Black.