{"id":333007,"date":"2025-12-07T15:21:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T15:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/333007\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T15:21:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T15:21:10","slug":"pat-spencer-stepping-up-for-warriors-is-showing-that-he-is-that-you-know-what","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/333007\/","title":{"rendered":"Pat Spencer, stepping up for Warriors, is showing that he is that \u2026 you know what"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pat Spencer is not a lacrosse player in the NBA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yes, he starred in lacrosse at Loyola University in Maryland. Yes, he won the Tewaaraton Award in 2019 as the nation\u2019s best player. Yes, he resembles an athlete from a country club sport who won a sweepstakes to get on the Golden State Warriors. But don\u2019t let the complexion be misdirection.<\/p>\n

Spencer is a hooper. Basketball courses through his veins. It warms his chest. Drives his ambitions. He\u2019s been this way since he was a kid. It\u2019s just that his growth spurt came later. So he went with the scholarship offer in his hand and chose to become a hooper with a lacrosse scholarship.<\/p>\n

But he worked his way back into basketball, his dream. Lacrosse served him well. But hoop was his first love. He went from going undrafted out of Northwestern to playing overseas. From riding the bench in Summer League to getting a real shot in the G League. Now he\u2019s in his second season as a two-way player for the Warriors.<\/p>\n

Spencer\u2019s mission needs no interpretation. The chip on his shoulder is as pronounced as his mustache. Somewhere along the way, his basketball journey convinced him he could play at the highest level. Thus, he\u2019s got a bone to pick. With the defender in front of him. With his two-way contract. With perception.<\/p>\n

Stephen Curry\u2019s quad injury<\/a> created an opportunity for Spencer.<\/p>\n

Thursday night in Philadelphia, Jimmy Butler didn\u2019t play, and Draymond Green left early with a foot injury. Spencer found himself with the ball in his hands and rare freedom. He used it to introduce himself<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m that motherf\u2014!\u201d he yelled to the crowd.<\/p>\n

Saturday, with the three stars out again, the Warriors leaned in and rested three others. The Cleveland Cavaliers are the kind of long, athletic and young team that troubles Golden State. So with a road game at Chicago on Sunday, the Warriors gave Al Horford, Seth Curry and De\u2019Anthony Melton days off, too. The night belonged to the backups.<\/p>\n

Spencer made his first career start and scored a career-high 19 points to go with seven assists \u2014 including multiple clutch baskets late. The Warriors beat Cleveland, 99-94<\/a>, and possibly salvaged their road trip. Maybe saved their season. He no longer needed to introduce himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis coach realized that Pat is that motherf\u2014,\u201d Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said. \u201cI think that became clear.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen the competitiveness,\u201d Kerr added. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen what a good player he is in the past couple of years. But he\u2019s really improved his jump shot. I mean, that\u2019s the big thing. \u2026 He\u2019s never gonna be Steph, but he\u2019s a threat out there, and that\u2019s what it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss what\u2019s happening here. This isn\u2019t a lacrosse player who summoned a genie and made a wish. Spencer isn\u2019t a gimmick. Along with his skill comes an unmistakable fire. A consuming passion. Borderline unhealthy if it were not working for him like a charm.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone I know is a competitor, and they have different ways of showing it,\u201d forward Trayce Jackson-Davis said. \u201cI just feel like Pat is probably one of the most emotional, as in showing his emotions and wearing them on his sleeves.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Warriors desperately need Spencer\u2019s edge. Expectations hover in the world of the Warriors. Always. Much gets taken for granted. Life in the era of a dynasty can produce entitlement.<\/p>\n

Spencer expects nothing but what he takes. He salivates for opportunities. His demeanor gives hunger. And it\u2019s been a stimulant for a roster that wrestles with listlessness.<\/p>\n

\"Pat<\/p>\n

\n \u201cEveryone I know is a competitor, and they have different ways of showing it,\u201d forward Trayce Jackson-Davis says of Spencer. \u201cI just feel like Pat is probably one of the most emotional.\u201d (Mitchell Leff \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Because the 29-year-old wants this. Badly enough to swallow his pride in favor of patience. To work on his game until he can\u2019t be denied. It\u2019s a spirit of toughness and grit, forged from a pure love of the game. The locker room loves him for it, and now he\u2019s known by his Philadelphia proclamation.<\/p>\n

\u201cPat is that motherf\u2014,\u201d forward Gui Santos said. \u201cHe\u2019s great. It\u2019s great to have a guy like that on the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hole Spencer fills isn\u2019t just mental. He provides some of what the Warriors\u2019 offensive repertoire lacks.<\/p>\n

Spencer is a pick-and-roll maestro. He\u2019s comfortable with the ball. He can make plays coming off a screen, whether finding a teammate or looking for his shot.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s much simpler than that. Spencer, who played the attacker position in lacrosse, isn\u2019t timid about attacking. Opponents pressure the Warriors on the perimeter with no regard for being countered. The time-honored response to pressure is to drive. But Golden State is short on offensive playmakers, especially from way out near the 3-point line.<\/p>\n

But Spencer feasts on such defense. He wants the pressure because it opens driving lanes. Kerr feels comfortable running the offense because Spencer will just go, instinctually. He\u2019s fine playing fast, making reads and having options.<\/p>\n

You know why? Because he\u2019s a hooper. Spencer has played in countless runs. Enough to become a wizard of sorts. He dominated intramural hoops at Loyola, even though playing during lacrosse season was a no-no. In the offseason, he sharpened his game through high-level pickup games with overseas pros and college stars in Baltimore and around the DMV. He played 56 games in four seasons in the G League. He\u2019s been practicing with Hall of Famers in his three years with the Warriors and an untold number of three-on-three battles after practice.<\/p>\n

Now he\u2019s on the big stage. In a big role. Showing the world that he is who he said he is. He doesn\u2019t get here if this is some cute storyline. He doesn\u2019t get here if he\u2019s not determined to the point of delusion.<\/p>\n

But after 52 points in three games, nothing is delusional about recognizing what\u2019s evident about Spencer: He is an NBA player who, in college, was elite at lacrosse. If he keeps this up, he\u2019ll never have to declare himself again. People will know Pat Spencer.<\/p>\n

Until then, his teammates happily adopted the assignment of introducing him, as guard Moses Moody did while Spencer was being interviewed Saturday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s that motherf\u2014 you talking to right there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pat Spencer is not a lacrosse player in the NBA. Yes, he starred in lacrosse at Loyola University…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333008,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,5552,590,85],"class_list":["post-333007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golden-state-warriors","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}