Out-of-whack Washington no match for late S.A. surge
On paper, Sunday’s game against a Washington team all out of whack seemed tailor-made for a Spurs bounce back.
The Wizards had six players unavailable due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols, were playing their first game in 13 days after having six contests postponed and signed a pair of players basically off the street the day before.
As we have learned time and again this season, however, there is no “supposed to” for these Spurs.
The Spurs eventually rang up 121-101 victory over the Wizards that marked their second 20-point triumph in a week.
They had to shake off what has become a traditional slow start and ring up a massive 73-point second half to do it.
When the season is over, the victory will count in the standings the same as all the rest. By night’s end, the Spurs had taken care of business, moved past .500 to 9-8 and handed Washington its 21st consecutive loss in San Antonio, the NBA’S longest active streak.
Here are three takeaways from Sunday that had the makings of disaster early before becoming the Spurs’ second-most lopsided victory of the season:
Dejounte Murray’s ankle seems fine
Murray said he initially was worried about his sore left ankle, which he tweaked in the opening minute of Friday’s loss to Dallas.
The Spurs’ up-andcoming point guard did not return to that game and was questionable to face the Wizards until after shootaround Sunday morning.
Murray responded with his second career tripledouble — and second of the season — by posting 11 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.
The statistic of Murray’s that impressed coach Gregg Popovich the most, meanwhile, was a single digit: one.
That’s how many turnovers Murray had against the Wizards.
Murray was the Spurs’ leading rebounder, one of seven players in double figures and helped the team ring up 27 assists.
Not a bad night’s work.
NBA teams need to play more than once every two weeks
After not having participated in an NBA game or really had much of a practice since Jan. 11, the Wizards were glad to be playing anyone, anywhere.
Still, the rust, lack of depth and faded conditioning seemed to catch up with Washington on Sunday.
Bradley Beal, the NBA’S leading scorer, started 5 of 13 in the first half. He eventually found his legs enough to put up 31 points — his 34th in a row of at least 20 — though it took Beal a 13-of-29 shooting performance to get there.
Russell Westbrook started 1 of 6 and had three points before intermission.
He ended with nine points, and matched Beal with four turnovers.
Alex Len, one of the centers Washington signed Saturday to act as a warm body, was the Wizards’ third-leading scorer with 11 points off the bench.
Even so, Washington burst out to a 10-point lead in the first half — remember those sluggish Spurs starts? — before the Spurs caught up and then raced by the Wizards at the finish.
Spurs are better when the ball is moving
The ball seemed to get stuck in the first half, with the Spurs amassing only nine assists, shooting 39.2 percent and having to ugly their way to a 48-47 lead at the break.
That all changed in the second half.
Led by Murray, the Spurs tripled their assist numbers after halftime and got seven players into double figures in the scoring column.
Patty Mills led the way with 21 points, including 11 in 2:44 stretch to close the third quarter that gave the Spurs an 84-77 cushion heading into the fourth. Mills also knocked down back-to-back backbreaking 3-pointers in the fourth to give Murray his ninth and 10th assists of the game.
The other players on that double figures list: Lonnie Walker IV (16), Lamarcus Aldridge (15), rookie Devin Vassell (a season-best 14), Rudy Gay (13), Keldon Johnson (13) and of course Murray.
Meanwhile, Jakob Poeltl knocked down an 18-footer, the longest field goal he has recorded as a member of the Spurs. That should count for 10 points on its own.
Conspicuously absent from that list was Demar Derozan, the team’s leading scorer at 20.9 points per game coming in. Derozan had nine points and eight of the Spurs’ assists, but picked up his fifth foul with 8:16 remaining and did not return.
Thanks to a big second half, the Spurs did not need him to put away the game.