Hitting the street for the primary time this preseason, the San Antonio Spurs had been aiming so as to add a 3rd victory to their profitable streak.
As an alternative, they bumped into the brick wall of a Miami Warmth crew, giving up 21 turnovers – 15 within the first half – en path to an in depth 120-117 loss to fall again to .500 on their listing of 5 preseason video games.
“Miami is an enormous, bodily crew,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich mentioned. “They’re coming after you. We let this get to us.”
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From the leap, San Antonio obtained issues going offensively. Victor Wembanyama opened the night time’s scoring with a 3-pointer and Jeremy Sochan responded with a dunk of his personal, however it did not take lengthy earlier than the Warmth caught up and handed the Spurs.
From there, it was the Silver & Black preventing from behind, however their 15 turnovers within the first half did not assist issues as Miami managed to remain in entrance and take a 10-point lead on the finish. half-time.
“We had approach too many turnovers at present,” Sochan mentioned. “So it’s about studying from a crew like that, who has expertise and has been by means of battles.”
Spurs, for essentially the most half, stored tempo with their hosts regardless of self-inflicted wounds. Charles Bassey obtained his first NBA minutes since Dec. 10, when he suffered a torn ACL that stored him sidelined for the remainder of the season, and scored 4 factors and 4 rebounds.
Sochan led the best way with a double-double of 18 factors and 11 rebounds. Behind him had been Keldon Johnson and Malaki Branham with 15 factors every and Chris Paul with 13 factors and 5 assists.
Maybe crucial second of the night time for San Antonio got here when rookie Stephon Fortress, who was having an off day with simply six factors, drove by means of the lane late within the second quarter for a one-and-one dunk. hand in opposition to Nikola Jović.
OH MY CASTLE STEPH 🏰 pic.twitter.com/ccxYFpCmag
– San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) October 16, 2024
Wembanyama additionally had a well-rounded stat sheet, ending with eight factors, seven rebounds, three assists and one for every steal and block, however regardless of the general effort, the Spurs had been unable to capitalize as Miami imposed for its second victory of the pre-season, 120-117.
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With the loss, San Antonio falls to 2-2 within the preseason and now turns its consideration to at least one ultimate sport – nonetheless on the street – in opposition to the Houston Rockets, who’re themselves on a two-game profitable streak.
The announcement of this competitors is ready for 7 p.m. within the middle on Thursday night.
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