PHOTOS: Spurs fall to Sixers 115-109
SAN ANTONIO —
Game Story
First Quarter
Doug McDermott made an extra pass to Keldon Johnson in the corner for three to start the scoring for San Antonio. Dejounte Murray tossed a sky-high jumper from the stripe, then passed to Johnson who got to the line for a pair of free throws.
Derrick White circled the court and found a moving McDermott, who drove for the layup and a 9-8 lead. The Spurs created a number of good three-point looks, but failed to convert.
Poeltl got blocked by Embiid, but recovered the ball and put it back in. He later got a mismatch in the post ang got hacked, but missed his first at the stripe. Philly built their lead to five, but White banked in a floater over Embiid. His jumper rattled out on the other end, and DJ found Jak for a layup. After another stop, Murray found Keldon for a layup over Embiid for the lead.
Philly went back in front, and Lonnie Walker IV checked in off the bench with a quick score. The Sixers held a 29-23 lead after one.
Second Quarter
San Antonio's second unit brought in a rough stretch with some ugly basketball in all facets of the game. Pop called time with the Spurs down 10. Jakob Poeltl came back in and hit a pair of shots.
Philly pushed their lead to 13, then Dejounte found Jak for a pair of cutting layups. Devin Vassell got the next dime for a tough finish inside, then hit a three to make it a 9-2 run.
Derrick White took a charge and splashed a three, going for the two-for-one. Philly answered, then White threw it away for a buzzer-beating dunk the other way. The Sixers took a 59-47 lead into halftime.
Third Quarter
San Antonio's starters were able to rip off a run and cut their deficit to six points with a balanced effort. Philly called time, then extended their lead to a game-high 15 points as Joel Embiid began to go off.
Devin Vassell hit a contested three, then created space with his body on a drive before a jumper. San Antonio trailed 86-77 after closing the third quarter on a 6-0 run.
Fourth Quarter
San Antonio opened the final period on an 11-8 run, driven by Dejounte Murray's shooting and defense. Vassell knocked down another three as well.
Murray got to the line, Keldon threw a no-look sauce pass to Poeltl for an easy deuce, and Philly called time up 5. The Sixers pushed back, but Murray found Poeltl for a dunk and Walker for three.
Embiid got inside for a dunk, but Poeltl went right back at him in the post for a hook that gave him 25 points. Derrick White poked away a loose ball and found Lonnie in the corner for another three.
Keldon drove into a thicket of bodies for free throws, then Walker hit in the paint to make it a four-point game. The Spurs pressured the inbound and Derrick forced a turnover, getting it up to Dejounte for a dunk.
San Antonio fouled Embiid, and he put the Sixers up 113-109 with 15 seconds left. White chucked up a tough three that missed badly, and San Antonio fell 115-109.
Pregame
The San Antonio Spurs (17-29) will host the Philadelphia 76ers (26-19) tonight. The Spurs are 0-1 versus the 76ers this season.
In their previous game, the Spurs picked up another loss on the season, losing 117-102 to the Nets in San Antonio.
"They [Nets] did what they were supposed to do, and they got us. We needed to keep scoring and weren’t able to. The effort was great. Thought we did a lot of good things defensively, but those two guys, they’re future Hall-of-Famers, and they had their way," Gregg Popovich said following the loss to the Nets.
Dejounte Murray led the team with 25 points, 12 assists, and 10 rebounds. It was his ninth triple-double on the season. Derrick White had 17 points and Keldon Johnson ended the night with 14 points.
Here are five things to watch for in tonight's game:
1. The Spurs have lost six-straight games to the 76ers.
2. The Spurs are 10th in the NBA in scoring at 110.5 points per game.
3. The Spurs are second in the league in a low turnover percentage at 12.7 percent while the 76ers are fourth at 12.8 percent.
4. The 76ers lead the league in loose balls recovered on the defensive end at 59.6 percent.
5. The 76ers are 16-9 on the road this season averaging 106.6 points per game.
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