The visiting San Antonio Spurs bested the Utah Jazz on Halloween and accomplished its first back-to-back set of the season with a break up.
Devin Vassell (proper foot) and Tre Jones (proper ankle) have been absent for the Spurs.
Lauri Markkanen was out (again spasms) for the Jazz.
The Spurs countered a 9-0 opening Jazz run with 13 factors, however the offense was caught within the mud the remainder of the body. They solely made six of 24 baskets because the Jazz punished them with 11 straight digits near the interval from Patty Mills and John Collins.
The second quarter began with the Jazz up 30-19, however the guests managed to chop it to 6 factors, primarily due to motion from Victor Wembanyama, Chris Paul, Jeremy Sochan and Keldon Johnson.
Then, the Spurs got here out of the break working a fruitful Harrison Barnes-Wembanyama pick-and-roll play that set the tone of going inside on a 12-2 run. Defensively, they flashed the common full-court press plus the 2-2-1 and the paint safety was robust, holding Utah to 4 of 13 makes within the inside for the third body.
The fourth quarter began with the Spurs forward 77-67. Paul additional organized the offense to the second-sharpest capturing sequence of the sport because the group coasted to the end line.
Let’s evaluation what occurred.
Observations
On an evening after making a really low affect on each side, Victor Wembanyama uncorked the offense for the Spurs with a number of 3-pointers. He additionally scored thrice within the sq. within the first half on a lob arrange by Paul, plus on a putback and on a feed by Julian Champagnie. Defensively, he began guarding Walker Kessler, getting beat on a rim roll. But, Wembanyama checked him properly and denied him even when recovering from serving to a teammate cease the ball and rejected a pick-and-roll set on the cup. His finest performs of the sport have been developing on the Jazz’s PnR and stripping the ball from Brice Sensabaugh then ending a dunk on the break; and staying excessive and blowing up Collin Sexton’s leap shot.
Within the second half, Wembanyama’s pick-and-roll protection was stable. He deflected an opposing move to Barnes in drop protection and stifled Kessler in the identical scheme, which arrange a Barnes open-court dunk.
Former Spur Patty Mills despatched his regards, splashing three triples in 53 seconds on the finish of first interval towards two respectable challenges and one barely late within the nook. On high of that, the Spurs loosened up nook protections to trouble dribble penetration. Nonetheless, the Spurs recovered on time for essentially the most half to the perimeter on the catch. The Jazz solely transformed 21.9 % of hoisted 3-pointers.
The Spurs’ lengthy vary assault wasn’t capable of capitalize on numerous cases the Jazz left them open to additionally make inside scoring tougher. The Silver and Black registered seven of 26 first-half trifectas, 5 of 17 within the second half and made 57.5 % of makes an attempt within the paint.
Chris Paul was the second-best Spur, and his fingerprints are all around the fourth quarter. He maneuvered to the mid-range for 4 baskets, swished three 3-pointers, and arrange 10 performs with out one turnover.
The Spurs’ bench offered a lift of 37 factors, however was outscored by 13. Stephon Fort was the strongest San Antonio reserve as a result of he bothered the ball principally properly on protection and linked on three of eight appears to be like.
The Spurs will return residence on Saturday to face the Minnesota Timberwolves. Tip off can be at 7:00 PM CT on FanDuel Sports activities.
