Coming off a tough loss versus the Memphis Grizzlies, the Spurs returned home for a SEGABABA versus the Los Angeles Lakers. It was announced hours before tipoff that LeBron James would not play due to sciatica. Devin Vassell also remained out due to his adductor injury. Nonetheless, Victor Wembanyama was active. In what was one of the weirdest games of the season, the Spurs kept a small lead over the Lakers for most of the game despite shooting four of 25 from three. Despite the off shooting night, the Lakers managed to have an even worse shooting night. They shot 9 of 39 from three and 40% from the field compared to 49% for the Spurs. The defense was on full display for the silver and black, as they held the Lakers to 91 points and ultimately took care of business 107-91.<\/p>\n
Keldon Johnson led the way off the bench with 27 points (11-13 FG) and six rebounds. KJ matched his season-high and carried the Spurs offensively. He also drained two of the Spurs\u2019 four three-pointers in the game. Keldon deserves every single bit of praise, and games like these continue to bring strong momentum for not only this team, but a potential 6MOTY.<\/p>\n
MAKE WAY FOR KJ! Keldon drives past Dalton Knecht and throws it down with one hand!<\/p>\n
K3LDON! One of the Spurs\u2019 rare threes came on a loose ball that wound up in KJ\u2019s hands in the corner to beat the shot clock! Talk about right place, right time!<\/p>\n
Victor Wembanyama dropped a double-double off the bench: 16 points and 14 rebounds to go along with four blocks, two steals, and two assists. Instead of a high-scoring game, Vic hovered around the rim, fought for boards, and had more energy on the defensive end. Shooting just under 50%, Wemby\u2019s impact is not only on the court but also in the Frost Bank Center, bringing a tremendous energy shift. Bringing him off the bench is like bringing Tim Duncan off the bench. It remains to be seen when he\u2019ll be inserted back into the starting lineup.<\/p>\n
DPOY Things! Wemby uses his patience to predict Luka Doncic\u2019s shot attempt correctly and pins it on the backboard!<\/p>\n
ANOTHER SWAT! This time, Wemby corrals the Marcus Smart floater with one hand!<\/p>\n
Just throw it up there! Jeremy Sochan dribbles into the paint, draws two defenders, and lobs it up for a one-handed Wemby slam!<\/p>\n
INCOMING FLYING SAUCER! After the missed Julian Champagnie three, Wemby skies in and slams home the ferocious putback!<\/p>\n
Stephon Castle dropped 15 points, five rebounds, four assists, two steals, and a block. Steph cut down on the turnovers and took his time with his shots, shooting six of 10 from the field. Once he\u2019s under the basket, he somehow can create space on the defender for tight window finishes. He ended up with five fouls due to the tough assignment of guarding Doncic. However, he still played 29 minutes and did not foul out.<\/p>\n
AND-ONE! Steph drives into the lane past Jake LaRavia, draws a foul on Deandre Ayton, and finishes for an and-one!<\/p>\n
Another drive, another tough finish! This time, Steph drives on LaRavia and posterizes him!<\/p>\n
De\u2019Aaron Fox dropped 14 points, five assists, three rebounds, and a steal. Fox struggled from the field once again, shooting five of 14 and zero of six from three-point land. Fox has been on a cold streak shooting-wise, but he dropped some highlight dimes and got others involved. If this team wants to be taken seriously as contenders, Fox is going to have to find his shot as he did early in the season.<\/p>\n
Alley-oop the other way! On the fastbreak, Wemby finds a cutting Fox on the lob for two!<\/p>\n
Another poster! After corralling the board, Fox leads the fastbreak and dishes it to Dylan Harper, who dunks on LaRavia!<\/p>\n
Julian Champagnie dropped 11 points, nine rebounds, and three assists. Julian struggled shooting from the field: (3-11 FG, 0-6 3PT). However, he drew two fouls on three-point attempts, resulting in five made free throws. Despite the off shooting night, Julian continues to defend well no matter who he gets switched onto. Also, don\u2019t forget he has the hops to throw down a putback slam!<\/p>\n
Luke Kornet dropped seven points, six rebounds, two steals, and a dime. Luke made his fourth straight start and continued to play solidly. The veteran big set screens, corralled boards, and even made key defensive plays. Most of all, he once again threw down a lob for a slam! Shoutout to Harrison Barnes on the assist!<\/p>\n
This was a much-needed win after the last two blown losses. Even though they did not completely stop Doncic, they were able to contain and tire him out in the fourth. This will go down as one of the best defensive performances of the season, and also the least amount of made threes in a win. The heart and soul of this team is Keldon, and the team leaned on his uber-efficient performance. Despite the win, the Spurs still need to improve their shooting consistently. A huge test arrives this Saturday in Boston.<\/p>\n
Finally, here are the full game highlights.<\/p>\n
The Spurs go back on the road to take on the Boston Celtics this Saturday at 7:00 P.M. (CST) on FDSN-SW.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coming off a tough loss versus the Memphis Grizzlies, the Spurs returned home for a SEGABABA versus the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":525594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3797],"tags":[7,6,969,474,4075,4074,534,53862],"class_list":{"0":"post-525593","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio-spurs","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-san-antonio","11":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","12":"tag-sanantonio","13":"tag-sanantoniospurs","14":"tag-spurs","15":"tag-spurs-highlights"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115861224398962884","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/525594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}