Spurs fall to Warriors in overtime on rough shooting night
After having defeated the Los Angeles Clippers in dominating fashion on Thursday night, the San Antonio Spurs didn’t have the same type of outcome against the Golden State Warriors on Friday.
A day later, with legs possibly tired and bodies fatigued, the Spurs were defeated by the Jarrett Jack and Stephen Curry led Warriors 107-101, only it took overtime for the Warriors to end the Spurs’ 5-game winning streak.
If the Spurs were due a rough shooting night, Friday was that night as the team only shot 39% from the field and connected on just 4-of-22 three pointers, while their leaders, Tim Duncan (19 points, 13 rebounds, 4 blocks), Danny Green (20 points), Tony Parker (18 points), and Manu Ginobili (18 points) all almost took as many shots as points that they made.
Here are three points from the Spurs’ first lost to the Warriors after winning 16-straight games against the Warriors consecutively.
1. Jack, Curry, Lee, and Thompson – the young Warriors
As much as the Spurs might have been a bit fatigued, credit has to be given to the Warriors’ young stars as Jack (30 points, 10 assists) was the playmaker in the fourth quarter where he scored 10 points and knocked down a major 3-pointer late in the fourth to give the Warriors a substantial lead. Curry used his quickness throughout the night to get into the lane and find his teammates or hit jumpers as he ended the night with 19 points and six assists. David Lee was the work horse in the paint getting extra possessions and scoring on the Spurs’ frontline as he dominated the glass with 25 points and 22 rebounds. Klay Thompson (10 points) was also a major piece defensively for the Warriors as he was the one who used his quickness and length to defend Parker for a majority of the second half. The young Warriors kept the Spurs on their toes throughout the night as they outscored the Spurs 25-2 in fast break points.
2. More on the offensive struggles
With missed shots, whether open or contested, the Spurs’ offense struggled throughout the night. The team only managed to pass for 17 assists on 37 made baskets. Green made all four of the Spurs’ four 3-pointers, yet he too missed five 3-pointers. Even the stars, which had to take on heavy minutes, were missing a large amount of shots as displayed here.
Duncan: 19 points – 6/16 shooting
Green: 20 points – 7/15 shooting
Parker: 18 points – 7/18 shooting
Ginobili – 18 points – 8/17 shooting
Though the Spurs only turned the ball over nine times in the game, some of their worst turnovers came in the fourth quarter and overtime after the team had earned a 13-point lead early in the fourth quarter. Tiago Splitter and Kawhi Leonard both pitched in with 10 points in the loss.
3. The missing bench minus Manu
Ginobili led the bench with 18 points, but outside of him, the Spurs’ bench was a ghost town. Minus Ginobili, the Spurs’ bench shot 2-of-14 on the night; most significant was Gary Neal who missed all six of his field goal attempts in the game.
Rodeo Road Trip ends in Phoenix
The Spurs will have Saturday off, but they will make their final stop of the Rodeo Road Trip in Phoenix against the Suns on Sunday. The Suns are currently dead last in the Western Conference at 18-28, have lost two straight games, and are 2-8 in their last 10 games. The Suns are also just 12-14 at home this season, while they have six wins and 23 losses against winning teams like the Spurs.
Where they stand
Here are a few stats showing where the Spurs stand in certain categories in the NBA.
Season record: 44-13 – Three game lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder (40-15) in the West.
Rodeo Road Trip: 6-2
Road Record: 22-11
Vs. teams above .500: 18-10
Vs. the Western Conference: 24-9
(Photo: NBA.com)
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The refs did screw up on a couple of calls in this game (missed the goaltending call that should have been an And-1 for Duncan and of course, the out-of-bounds call in OT). But if the Spurs had made their free throws and some of the other guys had made some threes (Green was the only one who shot well from 3), it would have not gone into OT and would have been a victory for the good guys. Oh well, learn from the mistakes and do a better job in Phoenix tonight. Go Spurs Go!
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Rather than suggest if Baynes could've helped or wonder about the streak of fouls in the 4th that may have caused momentum to shift or if it's due to substitutions, I just hope the team is able to pick up lessons from this loss so what happened can be avoided. Glad it's still a regular season game. Need to get tougher while remaining healthy. GSG!
I know Tiago has improved greatly in scoring, defense ( a little), and free throw shooting (thank god), but he is not our long term answer. He is 7 ft tall and can't rebound to save his life. I'm not saying Tiago doesn't contribute, but we are still getting killed on the boards. David Lee is freaking 6'9 and got 22 rebounds, how does that happen??? It's a good thing we shoot the ball well and have such an efficient offense, or our lack of rebounding would've cost us a lot of games. Please for the love of god, I hope the front office drafts someone good during the summer. Preferably a big man who can play pretty good defense and can REBOUND.
Spurs missed some key rebounds that could have limited opportunities for the Warriors and helped us get second chance shots in OT. Our starting Center continues to grab 5 rebounds, and that's not helping us. David Lee had 22 rebounds, 17 of them were defensive, fans on this site say we don't need offensive rebounds, yeah right.
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That was a fucked call by the refs at the end. It was a foul but they didnt call it. How the fuck was it out on manu when clearly the ball was out on currys bitch ass. I blame the refs ... not the shooting
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@TEXAS I 100% agree with you on that call. It clearly should have been reversed, and the fact they took 5 minutes reviewing it only to come the conclusion that they did is truly pathetic from an officiating standpoint. Furthermore, the time that went by as they watched the replay for all of eternity, and of course the ensuing inbounds for the Warriors resulting in a quick corner two, really took the momentum away from the Spurs who up until that point had been clicking along well in OT.
But then again, had any Spurs just made one more freethrow or one more of the plethora of missed 3's during the course of regulation, they would never have been in that position for a bad call in OT in the first place.
