A hush washed over the Frost Financial institution Middle after Victor Wembanyama went down with an obvious knee harm within the first quarter of the San Antonio Spurs recreation towards the Milwaukee Bucks. As Wembanyama skipped to the locker room, the burden of the Spurs’ two-game dropping streak hit like a ton of bricks. How would the struggling staff keep afloat with out their star?
That silence and anxiousness changed into elation pretty shortly. The Spurs bought Wembanyama again a mere 10 minutes later. Then their offense, which had been anemic in the previous few video games, exploded to propel San Antonio to a 117-90 victory over the Bucks.
The Spurs scored over 30 factors in each body in addition to the fourth quarter, which was performed completely in rubbish time. They shot 51% from the sphere and knocked down 16 three-pointers, taking pictures 43% from deep. They stored their foot on the fuel for 3 quarters and buried the Bucks at house. It was the whole lot that they had not been in a position to do of their latest chilly stretch.
“I assumed our offense was actually clear and sharp tonight,” stated Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson. “Most significantly, it felt like our greatest passing recreation shortly.”
San Antonio had 28 assists and unfold the wealth round with their scoring. Six completely different Spurs scored double-digit factors. Seven completely different Spurs hit a three-pointer. The staff performed with tempo, moved the ball properly, and made good selections when it discovered them.
Wembanyama led the best way regardless of enjoying solely 22 minutes. He had 22 factors, 10 rebounds, and a couple of blocks, whereas hitting 5 of his six three-pointers. He regarded extra like himself defensively as properly, disrupting pictures on the rim and making it onerous for the Bucks to attain inside. The Spurs solely allowed 30 factors within the paint on Thursday night time.
Wembanyama shouldn’t get the entire defensive credit score. When he went down within the first quarter, the Spurs gave 6-6 guard Stephon Fortress the Giannis Antetokounmpo task. The Greek Freak had 14 early first-quarter factors, however was shortly stifled by Fortress and firm, solely scoring 7 factors the remainder of the sport, ending with a Bucks-high 21 factors.
“Steph did an incredible job (guarding Giannis),” Johnson stated. “I assumed we additionally bought higher across the on-ball defender on him. Early on, I assumed our shifts and the 4 individuals behind the particular person guarding him weren’t tight sufficient, not making the ball discover different individuals. Then we weren’t closing out and attempting to take among the different stuff away.”
It was a bounce-back recreation for the Spurs trio of guards, who had struggled of their previous couple of video games. Fortress had a double-double with 19 factors and 10 assists on an environment friendly 6-9 taking pictures from the sphere with 0 turnovers. Fortress performed off the ball greater than in earlier video games, whereas De’Aaron Fox took on major playmaking tasks. He made essentially the most of it with 18 factors, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. Dylan Harper chipped in off the bench with 13 factors and 5 assists.
“(Harper) and Steph did a superb job tonight of maintaining their dribble,” Johsnon stated. “They’ve been selecting up their gathers a little bit early at occasions, which has put them in a foul spot at occasions, the place they get caught within the air, and in the event that they don’t have a clear end or a clear go out, they’ll get in hassle a bit. I assumed they did an incredible job enjoying off two (toes), maintaining their dribble alive, and so they did an incredible job of discovering individuals and discovering them on time and on the right track in rhythm.”
The Spurs turned a 13-point halftime lead right into a 30-point one shortly within the third quarter, whereas broadcasters Sean Elliott and Jacob Tobey bragged about their halftime meal. Throughout that stretch, San Antonio went nuclear from three, with Harrison Barnes flattening just a few, and Wembanyama hitting a trio of threes. From there, the Bucks appeared to wave the white flag. Milwaukee emptied its bench with time left to go within the third quarter.
San Antonio improved to 28-13 with the victory, transferring again into second place within the Western Convention. The Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves are proper on their heels, with Denver tied for second, and Minnesota a recreation again. The Spurs will get an opportunity to present themselves some cushion after they host the Wolves on Saturday night time, seeking to get revenge for his or her last-minute loss to Minnesota earlier this week.
