On Friday night time, Victor Wembanyama banged knees with Anthony Davis within the fourth quarter of the San Antonio Spurs sport in opposition to the Los Angeles Lakers. That second sealed the Spurs’ destiny within the second sport of a back-to-back in opposition to the Dallas Mavericks. Wembanyama and Devin Vassell missed the sport, and the Mavericks beat the Spurs 110-93.
The Mavs took benefit of the Spurs’ lack of their 7-foot-3 shot blocker by dominating the painted space. Dallas outscored San Antonio 56-32 within the paint and out-rebounded them 53-45. Daniel Gafford was a power in his 18 minutes off the bench, scoring 22 factors, grabbing 7 rebounds, and erasing 3 pictures on the rim. Regardless of the inside struggles, Zach Collins led the Spurs in scoring with 20 factors (8 of which got here on free throws) and added in 6 rebounds and three blocks.
San Antonio’s offense struggled general, as they shot simply 31.8% from the sphere and 27.5% from deep. They managed to maintain the turnovers low with simply 12, however couldn’t create sufficient offense to stay round with Dallas.
The Spurs will get a number of nights off earlier than taking up the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder of their second NBA Cup sport on Tuesday. We should always know extra about Wembanyama and Vassell’s standing within the days earlier than San Antonio’s subsequent contest.
Observations
Charles Bassey obtained his first shot at prolonged minutes with Wembanyama out. It was an up-and-down efficiency with some defensive highs. Bassey failed to attain in his 21 minutes however grabbed 6 rebounds and blocked 3 pictures.
It was an uneven offensive sport for Stephon Citadel, however his protection remained stellar. He had 12 factors, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and a pair of steals. Citadel was disruptive off the ball and held his personal in opposition to powerful offensive matchups like Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. That defensive capacity is essential to the rookie persevering with to contribute even when he’s having an off-scoring night time.
The Spurs’ offensive creation exterior of Wemby and Vassell stays a difficulty. They struggled to create benefits on the offensive finish on high of lacking pictures. San Antonio solely had 21 assists within the loss.
Tre Jones was strong off the bench in his return from harm. He was requested to hold extra of an offensive load with Wembanyama and Vassell sitting out, which isn’t essentially his only position. Jones had 3 factors and 4 assists off the bench. As he settles into lineups with extra scorers, anticipate him to look higher as a flooring common and pace-setter.
