Spurs get their first win on rodeo road trip.
Aldridge takes over late as S.A. halts 4-game losing streak
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Davis Bertans’ plans for the All-Star break center on rest and relaxation with his wife, Anna, and their months-old daughter Mila.
“It will be nice to be home and be together all the time for a while,” he said. “It will be like after the season when you go home and don’t turn on the TV for weeks, and don’t take your laptop out for weeks.”
His family might forgive him, though, if he takes a peak or two at a replay of the Spurs’ gritty 108-107 win over the revampedbut-injury-depleted Grizzlies on Tuesday in the final game before the All-Star break.
In snapping their four-game losing streak, the Spurs showed some much-needed toughness by hanging together to overcome a 13-point first quarter deficit and the hot shooting of Texas-ex Avery Bradley. They’re now 1-4 on their eight-game rodeo road trip, which so far has been played without point guard Derrick White because of an injured right heel.
“We don’t have all our players right now, and after losing those four in a row, we had to come out and finish this off on a high note before going into the break, and I think we did a great job of doing that,” Bertans said.
LaMarcus Aldridge and Patty Mills each scored 22 points, and Bertans contributed 17 as the Spurs improved to 33-26.
“The best part of the game was that they just kept playing,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “The effort was great the whole game. We are trying to figure it out, point guard by committee, and lots of times we are a little bit discombobulated. But they stuck with it. They hung together with each other and played together.”
Aldridge overcame a slow start to score the team’s final seven points, including a free throw with 51.1 seconds left that provid-
ed the margin of victory.
“We didn’t fold over,” Aldridge said. “We didn’t give in. We fought. They got off to a good start, but I thought guys responded. We played like we needed it, and that was the difference. We just fought harder.”
The Grizzlies (23-35) overcame the loss of point guard Mike Conley (illness) to almost pull off the upset. It was an impressive display for a team that recently added seven new players, including three from Toronto in the blockbuster trade that sent longtime Memphis big man Marc Gasol to the Eastern Conference title contenders.
“They played extremely aggressive, defensively and offensively,” said Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan, who had 12 points, six rebounds, five assists and a steal. “We knew it was going to be a tough task. We just had to buckle down.”
Bradley, playing in just his second game with Memphis after it acquired him last week in a trade with the Los Angeles Clippers, finished with 33 points on 15-of-21 shooting, including 3 of 5 from 3point range.
“He had a good night,” Aldridge said of his fellow Longhorn, a player the Spurs considered trading for last season. “We give up the midrange, and that’s what he was knocking down. And he made some 3s.”
Fortunately, so did the Spurs, who hit 13 of 21 from downtown (61.9 percent). In recording his season high for points, Mills hit a season-best 6 of 8 from downtown. Bertans was a perfect 4 of 4.
“We had a sense of urgency the whole game,” Mills said. “We didn’t start great again, and we needed to find some sort of momentum. I was able to come out in my first spell and make an impact on the game with some shots going down. And that’s my role, to make an impact on everyone, not just myself, whether it’s knocking down momentum shots or playing pressure defense or making scrappy plays. That’s the way I want to play.”
The Spurs struggled defensively during the losing streak, but they clamped down against the Grizzlies to force 13 turnovers that led to 14 points.
“Defense is obviously the key, and we’ve been lacking in all defensive categories for a couple of weeks, it seems like,” Mills said. “But we turned up the effort, and it started with Bryn Forbes. He really pressured them full court and didn’t let them run their offense with momentum and flow. Everyone else just sort of fell into that defensive mindset, and we were able to get stops.”
The Spurs now have nine days off before they return to face the Raptors on Feb. 22. By that time, they hope White will be back in the fold.
“It’s pretty difficult to lose your point guard as you go out on the rodeo road trip and you have to reconstitute everything,” Popovich said. “You can’t run the same things the same way. Everybody doesn’t know where to go. It makes it a little bit tough. But they stuck with it, and gave a great effort and got it done.”