After two dominant performances from Victor Wembanyama, expectations have been excessive for the San Antonio Spurs in Salt Lake Metropolis. The Utah Jazz got here into the matchup as losers of their final 5 video games. The Spurs struggled with errors for a lot of the contest, because the Silver and Black dropped their fourth straight recreation 128-109.
Turnovers have been the story of the sport for San Antonio. When Utah went on huge runs, it normally coincided with a flurry of giveaways from the Spurs. The Silver and Black coughed it up 20 occasions, permitting 34 factors off turnovers. Even when the Spurs went on a run late within the recreation, they shot themselves within the foot with foolish errors, resulting in a blowout victory for the Jazz.
Even with out the turnovers, it was an anemic offensive efficiency for San Antonio. They completed the primary half with simply 39 factors, capturing simply 37.8% from the sector and 31.3% from deep. The Spurs didn’t have many gamers to create offense, and didn’t knock down nearly all of their open photographs. A second half run made up for his or her poor capturing within the first, as they shot 46.2% from the sector and 41.9% from deep over the course of your complete recreation.
That second half run was led by the bench unit, notably Zach Collins and Sandro Mamukelashvili. Collins has struggled to influence video games recently, however shot the ball effectively and was strong on the defensive finish in opposition to Walker Kessler. He completed the sport with 17 factors and eight rebounds, whereas knocking in two of his three deep photographs. Mamukelashivili hasn’t been within the rotation persistently however performed effectively offensively within the third and fourth quarters, scoring 8 factors.
It was the Spurs two stars who led the best way for almost all of the sport. Devin Vassell continues to raise his recreation as a three-level scorer. He completed the sport with 27 factors, 9 rebounds and 5 assists. Wembanyama made some main performs within the second half on his solution to one other double-double. The rookie had 22 factors, 10 rebounds and 5 blocks within the loss.
It was a tough recreation for the Spurs defensively. They couldn’t cease the Jazz from deep all through the course of the sport. After the Spurs minimize it to single digits within the fourth quarter, the Jazz opened it again up with three-point capturing and by capitalizing on San Antonio’s errors. Utah shot 48.6% from deep (17-35) and shot 51.1% from the sector. They outscored the Spurs within the paint 56-48 and on the quick break 28-14. Lauri Markkanen appeared like an all-star, ending the sport with 26 factors and seven rebounds.
Recreation notes:
It was a scorching capturing recreation for Tre Jones, who completed the sport with 15 factors and 9 assists. He hit three of his 4 deep photographs, capitalizing on open appears from past the arc. Jones is capturing 35.7% from deep since becoming a member of the beginning lineup. An enchancment in his flooring spacing skills would assist the Spurs tremendously.
Keldon Johnson logged simply 4 minutes on Sunday evening. He was yanked from the sport after fouling Markkanen on a three-point try that ended up in a four-point play. Johnson’s protection has seemingly been declining over the past stretch of the video games. Off the ball he’s been sluggish to his rotation, and on the ball he hasn’t put up a lot resistance. Maybe Gregg Popovich was sending a message by benching him in opposition to the Jazz.
Malaki Branham earned his manner again into the rotation and has been taking part in some good basketball recently. He had 14 factors off the bench in 28 minutes. The second-year combo guard has carried out a greater job taking part in with extra aggression on each ends. He hung in robust on a couple of drives in opposition to the burly Collin Sexton, and fought to get to his spots on the offensive finish. Branham turning it round within the second half of the season could be an amazing story for the younger Spurs.
