Heading right into a back-to-back in opposition to the Memphis Grizzles on Saturday, the Spurs have been taking a look at their finest probability but to bust their six-game dropping streak. Going through one of many few groups within the league with a worse document than them and lacking seven rotation gamers, together with Ja Morant and Marcus Sensible, this may be the time to come back collectively and get the job finished. Alas, it didn’t occur, with the Spurs as soon as once more following the identical troubling development of main by double digits within the first half, solely to come back out flat within the second half and get full blown out.
The Spurs began the sport robust, with all 5 starters scoring early and shortly getting out to a 20-11 lead. With Jaren Jackson Jr. dealing with foul hassle, the Spurs had the chance to maintain attacking down low, however the bench unit was blissful to maintain jacking up threes. Gregg Popovich was not blissful and referred to as a timeout after Memphis received again inside 4, and the Spurs received extra organized on offense and completed the quarter up 35-26 behind 10 factors from Cedi Osman.
Even with Tre Jones again, Pop continued to go together with some new seems off the bench, with Sandro Mamukelashvili and Dominick Barlow getting some first half burn and bringing power within the course of. General, the second unit scored 22 factors within the first half, and all through a slow-moving second quarter (on account of an abundance of whistles), the Spurs stored slowly however certainly constructing their lead as much as as a lot as 19 and main 68-51 on the half.
Nonetheless, the third quarter has been their bugaboo this season, so that will be the true check, and as soon as once more, they failed. Memphis got here out because the aggressor, kicking issues off with a 7-2 run. The Spurs have been initially in a position regroup and climate the storm, getting the lead again to fifteen a number of instances, however the Grizzles went on a 7-0 to complete the quarter and minimize the result in seven, 94-87, handing the Spurs one other third quarter through which they have been outscored by double figures.
Again from foul hassle, Jackson Jr. began going on the Spurs down low, scoring eight of their first 9 factors of the quarter, six from the free throw line. The refs continued with the relentless whistles, this time within the Grizzlies’ favor, and Memphis was already within the bonus simply with below 9 minutes left. They received their first lead of the sport for the reason that opening bucket on a Desmond Bane putback off a missed free throw, and total, the Grizzlies used an 18-0 run throughout 5 minutes to stretch the lead out to 111-99.
As they’re wont to do when issues go fallacious, the Spurs have been flustered on offense, unable to cease turning the ball over or hit a shot. They tried to drive to the basket and pressure the refs to name fouls, however they refused to chew. The Spurs have been lastly in a position get some stops and few buckets to go in, clawing again to inside six with two minutes left, however once more turnovers and an incapacity to seize rebounds prevented them from getting any nearer. They might go on to lose 120-108, making them an inexcusable 0-6 on the season when main by double figures at house.
Sport Notes
In a sport the place every workforce dominated for one half, numerous that needed to do with which workforce seemingly had the officers’ favor. Within the first half, the Spurs had a 23-12 benefit in free throw makes an attempt, hitting 19 of them to Memphis’ 8. That naturally contributed to their 17-point benefit on the break. Then, within the second half, the Grizzles had a whopping 24-3 benefit on the line, getting many borderline calls of their favor whereas the Spurs couldn’t purchase something. None of that is to say the refs are the rationale for the loss, however that’s nonetheless fairly the disparity, and it little question performed a job in Memphis’s enormous fourth quarter surge, simply because it did for the Spurs within the first half. It’s by no means day when the refs are a part of the narrative.
It was one other not-very-good sport from Victor Wembanyama on offense, with 19 factors on 6-17 from the sphere and extra questionable shot choice, however he was a mad man on protection, recording 8 blocks and grabbing 13 rebounds. These 8 blocks are a profession excessive for him and essentially the most by a Spur in a sport since Tim Duncan in 2007. It additionally made him the third youngest participant to ever document 8 blocks in a sport, per Dan Weiss.
Sean Elliott and Michelle Beadle have been discussing how way back present Grizzly Derrick Rose’s 2011 MVP was, and past it being over 12 years in the past, one other method to take a look at it’s what number of Spurs eras have passed by. Since then, there was the tail finish of the Massive Three period, the Kawhi Leonard period, DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge, and eventually the Youth Motion. (And even then, you might argue the final two seasons have been their very own mini-eras: a play-in look within the ever-so-brief Derrick White/Dejounte Murray period, adopted by “The Tank”.)
Play of the Sport
Often, Wemby is the one on the receiving finish of lobs, so how about him delivering one to Mamu as a reward for blocking a 3 on protection and operating the open court docket?
Up Subsequent: Monday vs. Clippers
The Spurs proceed their homestand with a home-home miniseries in opposition to the Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers, beginning on Monday. The workforce that handed the Spurs their first of three large blowouts early within the season in Los Angeles have been by loads of turmoil since buying and selling for James Harden. Can the Spurs lastly flip issues round, or will or not it’s deja vu over again? Tune it to KENS 5 at 7:00 PM CT to seek out out.
