SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Spurs knew they had a good chance of victory on Friday night against the Milwaukee Bucks, who were playing without their top two scorers, Giannis Antetokounmpo (sore left knee) and Jrue Holiday (sprained right ankle), for the second consecutive game.
The home team took advantage, with Keldon Johnson pouring in 29 points as the Spurs used a torrid early-fourth quarter run to put a stamp on a 111-93 National Basketball Association (NBA) win over their short-handed opponents to snap a five-game losing streak.
“We loved the win,” said San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich, whose team improved to 6-7.
“It was great. Our guys played great. Of course, they were undermanned like crazy, but you go out and you play whoever is out there. They came to win, (they are) deep, obviously well-coached. They got a great shot to go get this thing done (and win a championship).”
The Spurs led by seven points heading into the final quarter and put the game out of reach via a 16-5 run to push their lead to 99-81. Johnson had seven points and Devin Vassell hit for five in that decisive stretch.
Vassell added 22 points, with Jakob Poeltl racking up 15 points and 10 rebounds, Jeremy Sochan and Doug McDermott scoring 10 points each and Charles Bassey grabbing 14 rebounds in the win.
Jevon Carter led the Bucks with 21 points. Brook Lopez added 19, Bobby Portis amassed 16 points and 12 rebounds and Serge Ibaka hit for 11 points. Milwaukee (10-2) have dropped two of their past three games after starting the season 9-0.
Milwaukee fell behind 75-54 midway through the third quarter, and that was when their coach Mike Budenholzer knew that the game was practically finished.
“When we were down 21, that’s when you’re like, ‘Maybe tonight is just going to be an ugly night’,” he said.
The first quarter went back and forth, with seven ties and four lead changes.
San Antonio began to pull away in the second quarter, as eight points by Johnson over a nearly 2min stretch in the middle of the period helped to turn a four-point lead to a 50-39 advantage at the 6min 12sec mark.
The Spurs then pushed their lead to 21 with 5:58 to play in the third quarter. But Milwaukee refused to back down, reeling off 15 of the following 17 points to draw back to within 77-69 after a Lopez free throw at the 2:42 mark. The Bucks were within 83-76 heading into the fourth quarter but lost steam from there onwards.
Down the California coast in Los Angeles, the Lakers felt the absence of injured superstar LeBron James in a 120-114 loss to the Sacramento Kings.
The Lakers’ fifth straight defeat dropped them to 2-10 – tied with the Houston Rockets for the worst record in the league. REUTERS, AFP
