PAYBACK TIME FOR SPURS
Thunder have full attention in rematch despite looming All-star break
Spurs point guard Dejounte Murray left Chesapeake Energy Arena the night of Feb. 24 with a pair of regrets.
The first came just before the buzzer, when Oklahoma City forward Luguentz Dort knocked down a wide-open 3-pointer to give the Thunder a 102-99 victory.
The second came moments after the horn, when Murray — in a fit of frustration — kicked the ball several rows deep into the empty stands.
The NBA fined Murray the tidy sum of $25,000 for his Tom Dempsey impression.
“I could have donated that to some poor kids or something,” Murray said.
Murray has no way to recoup the lost money he quite literally kicked away. The Spurs, however, won’t have to wait long to make amends for the game they booted in Oklahoma City.
The Thunder visit the AT&T Center on Thursday in a game notable for two reasons. One, it is the Spurs’ final contest before the five-day All-star break, which should provide time for three players still working back from NBA
health and safety protocols to get closer to speed.
If all goes to plan, it also will mark the Spurs’ final home game without fans in bleachers. The Spurs are targeting a March 12 outing against Orlando in which to welcome a limited crowd back to the AT&T Center.
To Murray, Thursday’s game against the Thunder is notable for a third reason.
“We owe them,” Murray said. The Spurs’ trip to Oklahoma City last week was their first game since COVID-19 upended their season.
The Spurs went into that game not having played in 10 days and still were without six players, five of them rotation mainstays.
The Spurs hung tough despite a career-best 42 points from Shai Gilgeous-alexander, mounted a comeback from down seven with three minutes to go and had a chance to send the game
to overtime before Dort’s dart did them in.
Despite the defeat, however, that game set the stage for how the Spurs handled the most undermanned period of their season.
“They have dug down deep all year,” coach Gregg Popovich said of his players. “They never give in.”
Slowly, reinforcements have begun trickling back into the Spurs’ ranks.
Leading scorer Demar Derozan has been back for three games after missing the loss in OKC to mourn the death of his father.
Second-year sensation Keldon Johnson — the first Spurs rotation player to come out of NBA protocols — returned for an 11-minute cameo in Tuesday’s victory over New York. He scored nine points.
The Spurs are 2-2 since returning from their unexpected COVID vacation, with the losses coming at the buzzer in Oklahoma City and in overtime against a red-hot Nets team.
A revenge win in Thursday’s rematch with the Thunder would send the Spurs, who are 18-13 and holding onto fifth place in the Western Conference, into the break on a high note.
“OKC gives us a good challenge,” Spurs forward Trey Lyles said “They beat us the last time. We have to get payback for that and stay on top of it.”
Short-handed as they were, the Spurs are coming off a 119-93 shellacking of the Knicks, who are one of the NBA’S most surprising teams so far at 18-18, that ranks among their more impressive wins of the season.
On the second night of a back-to-back, the Spurs shook off an uncertain start to dump 68-second half points on the top defense in the NBA.
They also put on an impressive defensive clinic of their own, holding New York to 40.7percent shooting and swiping 12 steals.
In his fourth consecutive game as a starting forward for the Spurs’ skeleton crew, Lyles pumped in a season-best 18
points, becoming the ninth player to lead the team in scoring.
The Spurs knocked down 18 of their season-high 42 3-point attempts, and doled out 31 assists. Derozan posted 11 assists for the third straight game since returning from the inactive list.
“Guys were driving to the basket with purpose,” Lyles said. “We were kicking it out to the open guys. Guys were able to make shots and we just stayed aggressive.”
The Spurs trounced the Knicks with three key players — Derrick White, Rudy Gay and Devin Vassell — still unavailable following their time in health and safety protocols. Lamarcus Aldridge was also a late scratch because of a stomach bug.
None of the trio coming out of health protocols are expected to play Thursday.
“It was an impressive win on a back-to-back after a tough loss (to Brooklyn),” Popovich said. “They just keep on trucking. They should be very pleased with their effort — for a while.
“We have another game on Thursday.”
Often, that final game before the All-star break can be a trap game.
Players can get caught looking forward to the midseason vacation, although that probably is less alluring during a pandemic.
“We’ve just got to stay focused,” Lyles said. “It’s tough to do, especially when you are coming up on the All-star break. Teams start to fizzle out and little bit, start focusing on getting those couple days off.”
Thanks to what Gilgeousalexander and Dort did last week, Oklahoma City has the Spurs’ full attention.
They aim to make sure to head into the All-star break with no regrets.
“They beat us last time, so I really, really want this win,” Murray said. “As far as going into the break, it would be big for us.”