Bassey injury mars record-setting night
A season-ending injury sustained by St. Anthony alumnus Charles Bassey put a damper on the Spurs’ record-setting 132-114 win over Orlando on Tuesday night.
Additional testing Wednesday confirmed the initial diagnosis of a non-displaced fracture of his left patella. The Spurs did not release a timetable for his recovery, but such injuries usually take months to heal.
In beating Orlando for their fourth win in their last seven games, the Spurs (18-50) set a franchise record by hitting 22 shots from 3-point range.
Bassey’s injury appeared to have occurred at the end of the first quarter, when he landed awkwardly after blocking Jalen Suggs’ driving layup attempt with 1.8 seconds left.
Bassey fell to the court after the block, where he stayed for several seconds before being helped up by Gorgui Dieng, who left the Spurs’ bench to check on his 22-year-old teammate.
Bassey returned to start the second quarter before leaving the game for good with 8:18 left in the second half. He scored 2 points and handed out an assist while playing with the injury.
It was a tough blow for the native of Nigeria, who signed a four-year, $10.2 million contract with the Spurs in mid-february.
The season ends for the Spurs on April 9.
“Poor guy,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “He was just learning how to play.”
Bassey joined the Spurs after Philadelphia waived him. A secondround pick by the 76ers in the 2021 NBA Draft out of Western Kentucky, he was averaging 5.8 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.4 assists and nearly 1 block a game in 35 appearances with the Spurs.
“It’s unfortunate,” Spurs rookie forward Jeremy Sochan said. “He’s a great player. What stands out to me is his feel, his touch. For a big guy, his touch is crazy. Even today, he had a floater over one of their bigger guys. That shows what his potential is. And he’s young, he fits the organization, what we are trying to do. He’s a guy I know who wants to work, who wants to get better.”
Mcdermott’s hot streak continues
It was no surprise that Doug Mcdermott led the Spurs’ 3-point shooting parade against the Magic. The reserve forward is, after all, their most efficient sharpshooter.
What did raise eyebrows is that Mcdermott did it less than two weeks after suffering a sprained right thumb that forced him to miss two games.
In his three games since returning, he’s averaged 15.3 points per game while shooting 62.5 percent (10-of-16) from beyond the arc. That includes going 5-of-8 from downtown against Orlando en route to 15 points.
And he did all of it while wearing a protective wrap on his thumb.
“Might want to keep it like this,” Mcdermott said, looking at the wrap.
“It feels great,” he said of his thumb. “Been getting treatment and just letting it fly. That’s kind of been our motto lately as a team. It’s great to see everyone just getting rid of it quick, not hesitating, and shots are going to fall.”
That was the case against the Magic. The Spurs attempted 41 shots from distance, two shy of matching their season high, and finished with a season-best 39 assists.
“The ball was moving all night long,” Mcdermott said. “Guys were getting into the paint, finding the open man. That was our emphasis this morning at shootaround, to get into the paint because Orlando collapses, and we obviously took advantage of that.”
Nine players sank at least one 3-pointer for the Spurs, with six players making multiple attempts. Four players made at least three: Mcdermott, Keita Batesdiop (4-of-6), Sochan (3-of-6) and Zach Collins (3-of-3).
Six players scored in double figures: Sochan (29), Collins (25), Mcdermott and Devonte’ Graham (15 each), Bates-diop (14) and Devin Vassell (10).
Most of the players weren’t aware of the record until after the game. Bates-diop put the team in the franchise history book when he sank a 23-footer on an assist from Sochan to give the Spurs an 11-point lead with 4:55 left.
The previous mark of 20 was set twice, once against Dallas in December 2012 and again versus the Los Angeles Clippers in January 2021.
“You try to stay in the moment out there, but I knew we were hitting a lot of shots,” Mcdermott said. “We kept looking at the percentages, and we were like 60 percent and then 55, the ball was just moving and everyone was hitting them. It was just really fun to watch. It was just a special night.”
It was just the 28th time in NBA history a team has made 20-plus 3s in a game and recorded at least 39 assists. Teams are 28-1 when that happens.
“If you make 22 3s, you are going to have a pretty damn good night,” Popovich said.
“That’s just the way the rules are. We don’t do it very often, but we did it tonight. And it was fun to watch. More importantly, we had 39 assists, which is really fantastic. All in all, it was a good night for the boys.”
Wesley shakes off his shooting woes
Spurs rookie guard Blake Wesley impressed with a strong bounceback performance against the Magic.
Wesley came off the bench to score 8 points on the strength of 2-of-5 shooting from 3-point territory, and he dished out a season-best seven assists with just two turnovers two days after missing 11-of-12 shots from the field and scoring just 2 points in a 102-90 loss to Oklahoma City.
Wesley’s performance against Orlando included a thundering one-handed dunk over 7-foot-2 Bol Bol on an assist from Bassey.
“That’s one thing about Blake, he is going to be aggressive no matter what,” Mcdermott said. “All of our rookies, Malaki (Branham), Jeremy, Blake, all of them are like that. It’s a great trait to have to have a short memory. I wish I had it at their age.”
Branham (shoulder) and Keldon Johnson (foot) sat out the Orlando game. Johnson was set to return against Dallas on Wednesday night, but the Spurs announced earlier in the day they would be without several players include three who are sidelined due to injury management: Sochan (knee), Collins (ankle) and Vassell (knee).
The Spurs listed Branham as questionable.