Brothers Cam and Pat Spencer will get a third opportunity to meet in an NBA game for the first time when the Memphis Grizzlies visit the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night in San Francisco.
The Grizzlies will play the second night of a back-to-back set, having lost 138-133 at the Sacramento Kings on Friday night. Jaylen Wells scored 30 points and Jaren Jackson Jr. added 28 for Memphis, which has alternated wins in losses in its first four outings of a five-game road trip.
Cam Spencer, a driving force in UConn’s national championship last season, did not play for the Grizzlies in Friday’s loss. But he had gotten into five of Memphis’ previous seven games after having had his career delayed by a sprained right ankle sustained in summer league.
He has 30 points in his eight games this season.
The point total is 12 higher than older brother Pat (he’s 28, Cam is 24) has accumulated in two seasons with Golden State. Pat Spencer, who played college basketball at Northwestern, has been summoned off the bench in each of the Warriors’ last two games, including Thursday’s 139-105 home shellacking of the Philadelphia 76ers, but has gone scoreless in 13 minutes of those two games.
Golden State’s Stephen Curry sank eight 3-pointers to highlight a 30-point performance on Thursday. He averages a team-high 22.3 points a game.
Two earlier Grizzlies-Warriors games have been played without an on-court family reunion. Cam Spencer was still sidelined by his ankle injury when the Warriors recorded a 123-118 home win as part of the NBA Cup on Nov. 15, while Pat Spencer was inactive when Golden State lost 144-93 in the rematch at Memphis on Dec. 19. Cam Spencer contributed five points to the blowout.
While the Maryland natives are rivals on the basketball floor, they are teammates in at least a couple of off-court endeavors, both related to providing support for military families feeling the effects of PTSD.
Having grown up near the Naval base in Annapolis, Md., the Spencer brothers pooled some of their professional basketball earnings at first opportunity to create the Spencer Brothers Foundation.
They have since teamed with Texas-based Chillshark in the production of cold-plunge water tanks, which research done by the Spencers indicates are effective in treating symptoms of PTSD.
Cam Spencer insists he and his brother were bound to work together in life even if their career paths landed them thousands of miles apart.
“We grew up playing all kinds of sports, and we’re as tight as they come,” he said. “We’re the biggest competitors when we’re going against each other, but when we’re watching, we have each other’s back and we’re each other’s biggest fans.”
Pat Spencer was a lacrosse star in college before switching to basketball for just one season after transferring to Northwestern. The brothers don’t resemble each other much on the court, but that would make them perfect teammates, he boasted.
“We’re different. He’s more of a sniper,” Pat Spencer noted. “We pride ourselves on having high basketball IQ and making other guys around us better. I would say he’s more of a scorer. I’m more of a facilitator and playmaker. I’m a bit more athletic and probably a better on-ball defender. He’s got a really good feel for the game off the ball. We complement each other pretty well.”
