{"id":562094,"date":"2026-01-26T15:34:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T15:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/562094\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T15:34:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T15:34:14","slug":"spurs-comeback-run-not-enough-to-beat-pelicans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/562094\/","title":{"rendered":"Spurs comeback run not enough to beat Pelicans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">For about 12 minutes, it looked like the San Antonio Spurs were going to pull off a big comeback against the New Orleans Pelicans. After going down 20 points in the third quarter, the Spurs came all the way back to take a 5-point lead with 5 minutes to go in the game. San Antonio couldn\u2019t sustain the lead as New Orleans came away with a 104-95 upset victory.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Spurs\u2019 comeback started midway through the third quarter when Mitch Johnson subbed out his five starters for a bench lineup that included rookies Dylan Harper and Carter Bryant. The two first-year players immediately brought energy and helped the team get back in the game. Bryant has looked great in his last few outings. He\u2019s been confident and aggressive in his minutes. Bryant had 6 points on a pair of threes in his 7 minutes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Harper did what he does best \u2013 get downhill and make things happen in the open court. He had 5 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists off the bench. They aren\u2019t eye-popping stats, but he provided a real spark when the team needed it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Harper has caught a few defenders off guard this season with his bounce. At 6-6, he has the size to finish over the top in transition, even if he isn\u2019t a high-flying athlete.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The game was Devin Vassell\u2019s first in a month. He did exactly what you\u2019d expect with 13 points off the bench. Vassell knocked down shots and gave the Spurs another floor-spacer from deep. It\u2019s nice to know that a skip pass to the corner is going to fall into the hands of a shooter like Vassell.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Vassell\u2019s tough shot-making ability will be a huge help for the Spurs as they enter the second half of the season. Vassell knocked down a few contested shots on Sunday night, including this tough mid-range jumper off the baseline out-of-bounds play.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Victor Wembanyama got in on the highlight action despite a relatively quiet night. Wemby had 16 points, 16 rebounds, and 4 blocks. This poster slam over Derrick Queen was Blake Griffen-esque. Just a big man throwing the ball into the basket through contact.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">This sequence included some classic Wembanyama defense. He just had to go straight up against the smaller Yves Missi. He blocks him twice to stop the Pelicans\u2019 big man from a sure layup.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">We got a rare Area 51 sighting on Sunday night. It\u2019s been a while since these two have found each other in the half-court, but here Stephon Castle draws two defenders and then finds the big man for the lob.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Next, San Antonio will travel to Houston for a rematch with the Rockets on Wednesday night. Catch the full game highlights from Sunday\u2019s game below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For about 12 minutes, it looked like the San Antonio Spurs were going to pull off a big&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":562095,"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-562094","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\/115962135616758966","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562094","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=562094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}