If you thought the San Antonio Spurs with short hands would get exhausted tonight from their admirable but futile return attempt against the Brooklyn Nets last night (like me), you thought wrong. After a bit of a sluggish start, the Spurs caught fire in the second half, scoring 18 tries at night and scoring the rare result against the improved New York Knicks, 119-93.
Trey Lyles led the Spurs by 18 points on four tries, making him the leading 9th Spur the team could lead the points ladder this season. Dejounte Murray had his usual 17 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, and Patty Mills and Luka Samanic both provided 14 points from the bench. Immanuel Quickley led the Knicks by 26 points and 6 tries.
Observations
- LaMarcus Aldridge missed this one with a stomach bug, but the Spurs welcomed Keldon Johnson of COVID-19 Protocols. He came off the bench and played only ten minutes of the first half while still in shape, but it was just good to have him and his energy back. It seemed that he enjoyed hanging out, even on the bench, where he was always the first one to celebrate his teammates (and even air-conditioned).
- The first quarter was an offensive battle, with both teams shooting below 40 percent. The Spurs Bank used a 7-0 run to stand 24-14, but conceded it just as quickly, leading a 13-1 run by the Knicks in the first and second quarters with a bad transition defense and New York who struck out three straight tries struck the first quarter.
- Whatever you think of fans returning to the game, that means at least the end of the artificial fan sound. This is too false, often out of step of timing, and sometimes I’m not even sure they always choose the right “response”. (I will not lie either: I can not wait for a real cheer to tell the refs when they get something wrong. It was not really necessary in this game, but they could have used it against the Nets.)
- Tom Thibodeau has done an incredible job turning this Knicks team around, and it’s about playing to his strengths as a coach: defense. Who ever thought they would be the leading defensive team in the league? They are extremely disciplined at the end with solid rotations, timely double teams and are not easy to break down. Luckily, the Spurs did tonight.
- One thing the Spurs had trouble with was conceding tries. Whether it was due to staff, lack of discipline or exhaustion from the previous night, the Knicks made 7 of their last ten tries of the first half after missing their first eight (and 15 overall for the game), which made the Spurs play. catch up for most of the second quarter. However, they closed with a 10-4 run to take halftime 51-47, suppressed by a Mills corner three at the buzzer that came after the refs called halftime, but the video replay showed that the ball is out of bounds with 0.7 sec. remaining, which provides for the extra possession.
- I just go on and say this: Luka is ready for the NBA. He looks more and more comfortable on both sides of the court, no longer hesitates to shoot, and is usually on the defensive. Of course, he’s still learning – he deleted two lay-ups because he was a little too aggressive and complained, and although he did an admirable job in defense, Julius Randle still taught him a lesson. learned at the end – but it turns out he officially made the leap. He may still go back to G-League when the Spurs are healthy to keep developing, but he needs to be a rotation player on the last season.
- Usually it’s the second and fourth quarters where the Spurs do their magic, but tonight it was the third, where they outscored the Knicks 36-21 to take a 19-point lead, mostly by warming up from three with seven. in the quarter. They maintained the lead or more for most of the fourth quarter, and the Spurs claimed their first win at a SEGABABA this season. There are still 11 coming in the second half, so get ready.
Visit Posting and Toasting for the perspective of the Knicks fans.
The Spurs conclude the first half of the season at home on Thursday while seeking revenge on the Oklahoma City Thunder. Tipoff is at 20:00 CT on FSSW.