The San Antonio Spurs were one of the few NBA teams left that haven’t won an NBA Cup game yet. They broke that streak with a 110-104 win against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night. Without their top three scorers, Victor Wembanyama, Devin Vassell, and Jeremy Sochan, a whole cast of Spurs stepped up in the victory.
Chris Paul came up huge in the clutch with a 14-point, 11-assist performance. He controlled the Spurs’ offense and hit big shots down the stretch. The turning point in the game arguably came late in the second quarter and into the third, when Keldon Johnson went on a big scoring run. Johnson led the Spurs in scoring with 22 points off the bench.
The Thunder came back from down 21 in the fourth quarter to cut the Spurs lead to 6 late in the game. They just couldn’t shoot the ball well enough to take the lead. OKC shot just 41% from the field and 30.2% from deep. Despite the team’s struggles, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a good game, scoring 32 points and adding 7 assists.
San Antonio had a hot shooting night, going 46.4% from the field and hitting 19 of their 46 threes (41.3%). The win ties up the West Group B, with OKC, San Antonio, the Los Angeles Lakers, and Phoenix Suns all sitting at 1-1. The Spurs’ next NBA Cup game will be next Tuesday against the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City. They’ll host the Jazz for their next game on Thursday.
Observations
- Charles Bassey was great off the bench for the Spurs. His energy was infectious, and he made big play after big play in his 21 minutes. His rebounding, rim defense, and lob finishing were big reasons the Spurs won the game. He finished with 12 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks
- The Dallas Mavericks previously dominated the Spurs inside. The undermanned and undersized Thunder struggled to keep the Spurs out of the paint. San Antonio scored 36 points in the paint and got to the line 19 times, hitting 13 free throws.
- San Antonio had 13 turnovers in the first half but just 1 in the 3rd quarter when they built a lead. Their 6 turnovers in the fourth quarter allowed the Thunder to get back into the game. Stephon Castle led the team with 6 turnovers, including some costly ones down the stretch.
- It was a roller coaster of a game for Castle. He had 10 points and 8 assists in the win He shot 3-13 from the field and had 6 turnovers. He fought through some late mistakes, hitting a clutch three and getting a massive block on SGA in the last 30 seconds.
