Coming off a victory against the Golden State Warriors, the Spurs traveled to the Intuit Dome to take on the Los Angeles Clippers. Victor Wembanyama missed this game due to ankle injury management. Without Wemby, the Spurs went back and forth with the Clippers in the first quarter. After leading by eight, the Spurs outscored the Clippers in the second, 35-19, to give themselves a 24-point cushion heading into halftime. The Spurs\u2019 cushion was provided by lockdown defense and hot shooting. In the third, the shooting went ice cold. The Spurs shot 1-9 from three, and were outscored by LA, 34-19. In the fourth quarter, the Clippers cut the deficit to seven. However, thanks to big shots from Stephon Castle, De\u2019Aaron Fox, and Dylan Harper, the Spurs\u2019 lead ballooned to as much as 23. The Spurs ultimately won 118-99.<\/p>\n
De\u2019Aaron Fox led the way with 22 points (9-13 FG), eight rebounds, five assists, and three steals. Fox was super efficient from the field and was active in the passing lanes. His steals were comprised of pickpockets, interceptions, and deflections. His points really painted the picture in the fourth quarter. Come playoff time, expect more of this stat line, where the team will need him the most.<\/p>\n
BUZZER-BEATER! Fox finds an open Harrison Barnes at the last second for the buzzer-beating three to end the first quarter!<\/p>\n
Guard your pockets! Fox pickpockets Kris Dunn and speeds past everyone for a wide-open lane for a jam!<\/p>\n
Stephon Castle dropped 20 points (8-15 FG, 3-5 3PT), five assists, and four rebounds. Steph created offense with a mix of tough and-one finishes, dunks, middies, and threes. Despite having five turnovers, he dropped clutch buckets with Fox in the fourth. He drained a corner three, converted an and-one, and had himself a dunk contest. He also had the assignment of guarding Kawhi Leonard, which was not an easy task. Look for Steph to draw the toughest defensive assignment come playoff time.<\/p>\n
WHITE CASTLE! Steph finds Luke Kornet on the alley-oop connection early in the first!<\/p>\n
Sniping from the Castle! Steph catches and knocks down the open three from the top of the key!<\/p>\n
Catch and Shoot + Corner Specialist badges activated! Steph gives the Spurs extra cushion by draining the corner three early in the fourth!<\/p>\n
GET BIG! Steph drives in on Darius Garland and muscles through for an and-one finish!<\/p>\n
DETONATED! Luke finds a cutting Steph for an open lane, which results in a ferocious slam!<\/p>\n
Dylan Harper dropped 19 points (8-12 FG, 2-3 3PT), five assists, two rebounds, and a steal. Dyl\u2019s dribble and finishing moves are so polished for a rookie. He made every spin and every finish look easy. He also drained a pair of threes. He earned extra playing time in the fourth due to his play, and it paid off in a big way. He slashed his way to the cup and found open shooters to clinch the game. While he\u2019s earned an All-Rookie selection, there might be a chance he sneaks onto the first team.<\/p>\n
Put him in a blender! Dyl goes to work on Nicolas Batum with a crossover spin move for the layup!<\/p>\n
WHAT CAN\u2019T HE DO? Dyl catches and drains a running shot from half court to beat the second quarter buzzer!<\/p>\n
FLIGHT #2 CLEARED FOR TAKEOFF! Dyl drives past John Collins with a crossover and explodes for a two-handed slam!<\/p>\n
DAGGER! Dyl finds an open Keldon Johnson in the corner for the game-clinching three!<\/p>\n
Without their best player, the Spurs made this a statement game. Wemby might be an MVP candidate, but this team has loads of talent. For example, the guard trio of Castle, Fox, and Harper showed up and showed out. Every time the ball was in either of their hands, points were going to be generated. The guard play combined with cutters and shooters is already deadly. Just add the 7\u20195\u201d alien to destroy a team\u2019s defense. The Spurs face a real test this Saturday against a contending Denver squad.<\/p>\n
Finally, here are the full game highlights.<\/p>\n
The Spurs end their three-game road trip this Saturday when they travel to Ball Arena to take on the Denver Nuggets at 2:00 P.M. (CST) on Prime Video\/FDSN-SW.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coming off a victory against the Golden State Warriors, the Spurs traveled to the Intuit Dome to take…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":696319,"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-696318","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\/116342143327673165","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696318","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=696318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}