Monumental moment
Thrilling overtime win in Washington serves as signal team growing up
SAN ANTONIO — The shot was in and the game was won, and then it wasn’t.
A smiling DeMar DeRozan went skipping to the other end of the Capitol One Arena, his thumb and index finger an inch apart as if to say, “missed it by that much.”
Skipping along a step behind was the Washington Wizards player assigned to guard DeRozan on the final shot of regulation Monday, Russell Westbrook. He was also grinning.
For a moment, the two NBA stars were back on the playgrounds of Los Angeles, where they once came of age together.
“I have known him for half my life,” DeRozan said. “That was just us going back and forth, jabbering and jabbering.”
Quality time can be hard to come by in the middle of a pandemic. DeRozan’s rimmed-out jumper at the fourth-quarter horn gave him five more minutes to spend with an old friend.
The San Antonio Spurs’ king of clutch was more than happy to watch his younger teammates deliver a 146-143 overtime road victory that broke Washington’s eightgame winning streak.
With Dejounte Murray and Keldon Johnson combining for all four of the team’s OT field goals, the Spurs headed to Miami for Wednesday’s game on a three-game roll.
“I don’t know who we turn into on the road, but we just pick it up and play at a high level and it shows,” said DeRozan, who ended with 37 points.
On a night defense was but a rumor, the Spurs outplayed the Wizards in overtime. This is a sign of progress.
The Spurs were 0-3 in OT heading into Monday, including extra-frame losses to Atlanta and Indiana earlier this month.
Those defeats ignited a five-game losing skid that threatened to derail the Spurs’ hopes at even making a Western Conference playin game.
After outlasting Bradley Beal and the Wizards in a back-and-forth game that featured 31 lead changes and 20 ties, it is clear the callow Spurs are growing up.
Murray finished with 25 points and a career-best 17 rebounds, taking over after backcourt mate Derrick White exited the game in the third quarter with an ankle sprain.
“I was trying to do whatever it takes to win the game,” Murray said. “And to have the ability to affect the game in all ways possible, it helps the team. That’s all I was doing. I was trying to be greedy and help my team win.”
For Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, the best part about Monday night is how his team fought through adversity on its way to 31-29.
Resilience has been a hallmark of this club all season.
Beal spent much of the night going supernova on his way to 45 points. The Spurs’ top rim protector, Jakob Poeltl, was intermittently handcuffed with foul trouble.
They lost White, arguably the team’s best perimeter defender, when he landed on Poeltl’s foot while leaping for a block.
The Spurs were behind by nine points in the fourth quarter, and frankly nobody would have blamed them if they had faded down the stretch.
Instead, the Spurs kept clawing.
“It’s been a real good trait of this group,” said Popovich, who is coaching the youngest roster of his 25season career. “They have gone on to the next play, whether we are playing well or poorly. They just keep going.”
The Spurs regained the lead on a Murray jumper over Alex Len with 4:29 to play in the fourth.
Then the basket trading began.
Patty Mills made a pair of go-ahead 3-pointers in that stretch. DeRozan drove and found Poeltl for a tie-breaking dunk.
In the final minute of regulation, DeRozan made a game-tying jumper and then a go-ahead jumper over Davis Bertans.
When Beal knotted the score again, driving for a layup in traffic with 12.8 seconds left, it set up DeRozan to play hero. It is a role to which the Spurs guard has become well accustomed.
Two nights earlier, DeRozan added to his clutch-scoring ledger when his jumper with 34.2 seconds to go proved the biggest basket in a 110-108 win at New Orleans.
He seemed primed to do it again in Washington.
“I always look at whatever the defense gives me,” DeRozan said. “They had to make a decision on me.”
This time, the game came down to DeRozan and Westbrook, one on one, as if they were teenagers in Los Angeles again.
DeRozan’s fadeaway got halfway in the basket before bouncing out.
The Spurs had another overtime — and another learning experience — on their hands. They did not flinch.
“With time and experience and game after game, we are just going to get comfortable and know what to expect,” Murray said. “Whether it’s four quarters or overtime or however many overtimes. It’s important for all of us.”
That said, Murray was among those rooting for DeRozan’s game-winner to find the bottom of the net.
“(Expletive), I didn’t want him to miss,” Murray said with a smile. “I was trying to get the game over with.”
In the end, the Spurs got the best of both ends of the bargain.
DeRozan got to spend five more minutes jabbering with an old friend.
The Spurs got out of Washington with a victory good for both their confidence and playoff hopes.
“It’s just fun when you are playing against some of the greatest players in our league, and you have that friendship with them,” DeRozan said. “Moments like that kind of stick out.”
The Spurs, meanwhile, can only hope Monday’s moment can carry on to Miami.