San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
DeRozan plays like ‘smooth dude’
DeMar DeRozan returns home on a roll.
Since getting the night off to rest April 22, DeRozan has averaged 29.8 points, 10.0 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.0 steals, a statistical surge that helped the Spurs break even on the four-game road trip they completed with Friday’s 143-140 loss to Boston in overtime.
During that span, DeRozan ranked 10th in the league in scoring and third in assists. His 14 helpers against the Celtics matched his career high.
It was DeRozan’s 14th game this season with 10 or more assists (53 games) after he recorded just 13 such games in his first 11 seasons (820 games). For the season, he’s 24th in the NBA in scoring (21.7 points per game) and eighth in assists (7.4).
DeRozan also set season highs Friday for free throws made and attempted, sinking 14 of 16.
Over the last four games, he also leads the league in clutchtime scoring, which the league defines as coming in the final five minutes of a game that is within a five-point margin, with 27 points. For the season, his 129 clutchtime points trails only Portland’s Damian Lillard, who has 148.
“He’s a talented dude ... a
smooth dude, and his game speaks for itself,” Spurs point guard Dejounte Murray said of DeRozan, who has scored 30 or more points in three of the last four games. “He is a professional and he does it every single night.”
As good as DeRozan was on the road trip, he was overshadowed by two other prolific scorers. In the Spurs’ 146-143 OT win over Washington last Monday, Bradley Beal pumped in 45 points, eclipsing DeRozan’s 37. DeRozan had 30 points against the Celtics, but All-Star Jayson
Tatum doubled his output to tie Larry Bird’s single-game franchise record with 60 points.
“When you’re playing against competitors at a high level and they’re bringing out the greatness as well, that’s fun,” DeRozan said Monday of his battle with Beal. “That’s what any true competitor wants to go against and it’s going to bring the best out of you. The excitement comes with how big of a challenge it is.”
DeRozan called Tatum a “hell of a player.”
“Since he came in the league, when I was playing in the Eastern Conference, I’ve always been a fan of his,” DeRozan said. “His skill level, his ability, the things he’s out there doing so effortlessly. Got to give him credit. It’s not surprising a guy like that, that can get hot, is capable of doing that. Hell of a performance. You have to shake his hand and give him all the credit.”
Impressive outing by Walker ends badly
Lonnie Walker finished Friday’s game with 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting, but he was also involved in a botched inbounds play in crunch time that helped doom the Spurs.
Trailing 139-137 with 16.7 seconds left in OT, the Spurs came out of a timeout with Rudy Gay inbounding the ball with an attempted lob pass to Walker, who began the play by faking a screen out on the perimeter before slipping toward the basket.
But the player defending Walker, Aaron Nesmith, didn’t fall for the fake and intercepted Gay’s pass, which led to Tatum sinking a pair of free throws after Dejounte Murray was forced to foul.
“Just a tough pass,” Walker said. “Trying to set a fake screen on DeMar and try to create some diversion and maybe they would try to switch or be indecisive on it since DeMar is our main go-to scorer. I was supposed to slip and look for the lob. It just didn’t work out.”
It was a tough finish for Walker, who hit 4 of 7 shots from 3-point range and sank a 16-foot pull-up jumper with 31.5 seconds left to give the Spurs a 137-136 lead with 31.7 seconds left.
Franchise on verge of making history
With one win in their final six road games, the Spurs will achieve a first in the 54-year history of the franchise: boast a winning record on the road and a below-.500 mark at home in the same season, Spurs broadcaster Dan Weiss first pointed out on Twitter last week.
“I don’t know who we turn into on the road, but we just pick it up, play at a high level,” DeRozan said last week after beating Washington.
The Spurs face Eastern Conference power Philadelphia on Sunday night at the AT&T Center, where they are a disappointing 13-19. They will have just three more home games before the regular season ends May 16.