SAN ANTONIO —
Recap
First Quarter
San Antonio took the floor in their Iceman-era throwback jerseys, and Tre Jones scored the first basket of their season in a pick and roll. Keldon Johnson scored inside as well, but the shorthanded Hornets built a 12-5 lead.
Jakob Poeltl put his playmaking skills on display with a jab step and a drive into a spinning post hook. San Antonio struggled to keep the Hornets from getting to the paint, and they scored six baskets in the paint in the first five minutes to build a double-digit lead.
Jeremy Sochan scored on a putback, Keldon tried to rip down the basket on a dunk, and Sochan found Poeltl for a bucket inside.
Unsurprisingly, Josh Primo came in for Tre Jones as the first sub off the bench for Coach Pop. Josh Richardson, Doug McDermott, Keita Bates-Diop and Zach Collins entered the game soon after, and McBuckets drained a pair of quick-release threes to bring the Spurs within five.
Primo drove in for a floater to get his first bucket, and Collins broke up a lob attempt.
Charlotte led 38-22 at the end of the quarter, and the Hornets had 22 points in the paint. They scored 11 points off of San Antonio's 7 turnovers.
Second Quarter
Poeltl came in and threw a touch lob to KBD for a pretty alley-oop, but the Hornets built their lead up to 21. Jak drove hard and threw down a nasty jam.
Devin Vassell's rough shooting night continued, as he started 0-5 from deep and 0-6 from the floor. In fact, Spurs not named Doug shot 0-10 from deep to start the game.
Sochan cut backdoor and crammed home a dunk through a foul.
Keldon lost his shoe, put it back on, drove and dished to Poeltl for an easy bucket. On his next drive he lowered the shoulder and finished a tough one through contact. The next trip down he tried to feed Poeltl again, but turned it over.
Heading into the half, Charlotte led 68-47.
Halftime
Spurs fans gave Manu Ginobili a standing ovation as his jersey in the rafters was updated with the words "Hall of Fame." More on that here.
Third Quarter
San Antonio looked sharper to start the second half. Tre Jones got an and 1 to go, then hit a three. Keldon drilled a pair of triples in a row, cutting Charlotte's advantage to 76-64.
Poeltl scored inside a few times, and Keldon hit another three to make it a 10-point game. Charlotte closed the quarter on a 13-0 run, however, putting them up 98-75 heading to the fourth.
Fourth Quarter
The Hornets extended that run to 25-3 and pushed their lead to 32 early in the fourth. Pop put in Gorgui Dieng, Romeo Langford and Isaiah Roby, and that about did it.
The Spurs lost 129-102. San Antonio shot just 7-34 from three, and had 21 assists to 15 turnovers. Their next game will be Friday in Indiana.
Spurs blown out in opener
Pregame
The Spurs tip off their 50th season in San Antonio tonight at the AT&T Center, facing the Charlotte Hornets.
At halftime, Manu Ginobili will be honored for his recent induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, and his jersey that hangs in the rafters between Tim Duncan's and Tony Parker's will be updated with that distinction.
As far as the on-court action goes, the Spurs will roll with a starting group of Tre Jones, Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson, Jeremy Sochan, and Jakob Poeltl. At 19, Sochan will become the first rookie to start for Gregg Popovich on opening night since Tim Duncan 25 years ago.
San Antonio reported no injuries ahead of the game, and Charlotte will be without star point guard LaMelo Ball.
With an average age of 23.4 years old, this is the youngest Spurs roster since Pop took over as head coach in 1996. When he was told that his team has more teenagers (five) than the University of Texas at San Antonio (three), Pop laughed and suggested setting up a scrimmage.
When asked about the weirdness of having players who are too young to have a glass of wine with, Popovich relayed a funny anecdote.
"I was at dinner with one of my players, who will not be named, just the two of us, and I ordered a glass of wine, and he tried to order it too. I said now wait a minute, what's your mom and dad gonna say if you say you went to dinner with Coach Popovich and you're out there drinking? And it's illegal for you to drink. I said we can't do that. He said, 'oh, yeah, okay,' and he got bubble water, whatever the hell that awful stuff is.