Southwest Notes: Castle, VanVleet, Adams, Murray, Poole

The Spurs jumped to an 18-0 lead in Friday’s game against the short-handed Warriors and finished with a 38-point victory that leaves them solidly in control of West Group C in the NBA Cup, writes Michael C. Wright of ESPN. One encouraging sign was seeing Stephon Castle sink 5-of-8 attempts from beyond the arc after entering the game shooting 31.5% on three-pointers. Like most teams, Golden State sagged off Castle and dared him to shoot, and he was able to make them pay for that strategy.

“I think the biggest obstacle I’ve had was really myself, kind of just getting into my own head sometimes, not taking open shots and forcing worse shots,” Castle said. “I think today just coming in with a…