By lacking an opportunity to win his group within the Emirates NBA Cup and transfer on to what basically serves because the league’s season event playoffs, the San Antonio Spurs made solely eight of the 44 three-pointers they made whereas capturing 35% total towards the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday. Nevertheless, as Silver and Black drew thus harm throughout 104-93 defeatthis compelled them to depend on the opposite finish of the road to stay aggressive.
“Being down 4 factors early within the fourth quarter and within the recreation within the fourth quarter, I believe, speaks to another issues which might be good takeaways,” Mitch Johnson mentioned.
The interim head coach, whereas Gregg Popovich recovers from what the group calls a light stroke, particularly highlighted what has been a franchise staple for 2 and a half a long time.
“I believed our defensive effort was actually good.”
Spurs glad with their protection
Though the Suns shot significantly better than the Spurs, they scored effectively beneath their common of 113 factors per recreation.
“When you advised me we’d have held the Suns to 104 factors, I’d have felt good,” Johnson mentioned.
Phoenix was with out future Corridor of Famer Kevin Durant for the second half after rolling his ankle. The Suns’ main scorer averages 25.8 factors per outing and will likely be absent for no less than per week with a sprained left ankle suffered 4 and a half minutes into the second quarter of Tuesday’s recreation.
The Spurs had already begun to chip away at their deficit, narrowing a double-digit hole to seven on the time of the damage.
“We turned the ball over, we missed a number of pictures. These two issues will put strain in your protection and I believed they held up effectively,” Johnson continued. “They’d two offensive rebounds, they didn’t have a 30-point quarter. When your offense is struggling like that, it places a number of strain in your protection and our protection held up loads tonight.
When requested what his group may take away from what was their tenth lack of the season, the 38-year-old coach responded merely earlier than pausing and finishing his reply.
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“I hope we make extra pictures within the subsequent recreation… So I believe that may be the takeaway.”
Eradicated from the NBA Cup
San Antonio knew earlier than Tuesday’s recreation that even when they misplaced, they may qualify for the title. NBA Cup knockout stage. However the first of the dominoes that ought to have fallen did not occur because the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder simply beat the Utah Jazz to overhaul the Spurs as Group B champions.
Consequently, two common season video games have been added to the Silver and Black schedule for the rest of 2024-25. The Spurs will journey to face the Portland Path Blazers on Friday, December thirteenth and host the Minnesota Timberwolves two days in a while December fifteenth. The 2 competitions exchange the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the NBA Cup.
The Spurs completed the NBA Cup with a 2-2 mark.
