MILWAUKEE — Lonnie Walker scored a career-high 31 points, DeMar DeRozan added 22 points and 13 assists, but it wasn't enough as the shorthanded Spurs fell to the Bucks 120-113.
San Antonio led by 14 in the first half and kept the game close until the final minutes, taking a brief lead near the end of the third, but when you play against Giannis in Milwaukee on short rest without two key players, those games are seldom won.
After the game, coach Gregg Popovich, Walker, and Keldon Johnson all said that they liked the fight the team showed in the game given the circumstances, and emphasized that this young team still has plenty of room to grow.
"It's a heck of an interesting and enjoyable group. This is the fifth game in seven nights, and a couple of important guys didn't play, but it doesn't matter," Pop said. "They all come to compete, getting better all the time, and as I told them after the game they have more room to improve than a lot of teams because they're still learning an awful lot about what it takes to win games."
"I think DeMar and Rudy are doing a good job of leading them, we had 29 assists tonight against a hell of a team tonight, they did a great job. We're thrilled with the way we played, we just have to keep the consistency."
Walker also referenced consistency for himself personally after the best scoring night of his career.
"Just staying confident, trusting my shot, I've been shooting thousands and thousands and thousands of threes to get to this point, just staying with it, trying to stay consistent," he said.
Walker spoke to the resilience and ability to improve for this team.
"We're a very young team, and we have guys like Rudy and DeMar, great vets that keep us intact and keep us well-disciplined, so we're only going to continue to get better," he said. "You look across the board, everyone's 24, 25, except Rudy who's like 80 and DeMar who's like 75."
Popovich was impressed with his game.
"He made shots, made good decisions, busted his butt on defense, did good work," Pop said of Walker.
Keldon Johnson added 17 points and 8 boards, and he played about 73 total minutes in about 24 hours. He said that he can't really complain about being tired, especially when the vets and his other teammates don't.
"When I look to the left, and I look to the right, I got my brothers right there and we're ready to go to war with each other every night, we're ready to go play for each other and go win."
Recap
Fourth quarter
Keldon Johnson opened the final period by cutting, catching, bumping through Khris Middleton and finishing the layup and-1, cutting San Antonio's deficit to one.
Splash Mountain drilled a three, but Keldon drove again for a tough layup through the defense. After giving up a three to former Spur Bryn Forbes, Pop called a timeout down five.
Johnson got open for three to whittle away again, but Giannis answered at the rim. Rudy Gay wanted a foul in transition but didn't get it, and Giannis finished in transition. Pop called a timeout with 8:32 left, down 98-92.
Lonnie Walker IV pulled up and hit nothing but the bottom, giving him 23 points, but Giannis attacked the rim and found Middleton for three, then dimed a layup to put Milwaukee up 9.
DeMar got a jumper to go, and so did Lonnie, but the Bucks built their lead back out to 10.
Walker caught it at the arc and drilled his fourth triple of the game, giving him 28 points which tied his career-high that he set in a game against Houston where he scored 17 in the fourth quarter of a crazy comeback win.
Milwaukee pushed their lead back out to 11 as Giannis drove in and dunked it, but Lonnie once again drilled a triple. That gave him a career-high 31 points and tied his career high with five triples.
Giannis got hot at the end hitting jumpers that all-but ended the game.
Third quarter
The Spurs battled back to start the second half, as Keldon drove and kicked to DeMar in the corner for three.
Lonnie drove and finished another tough one inside with a floater over Brook Lopez. Derrick drove in for a layup, and San Antonio had cut the deficit to four.
Milwaukee answered with four in a row, so Pop called timeout. White ran a perfect pick and roll with Poeltl after that, ending in an easy layup. Walker dribbled in for a mid-range j, then caught at the arc and drained a deep three.
Keldon played hard help defense, Poeltl swatted a shot, and Keldon finished strong with the left in transition to cut it to three. after another stop White pulled up to tie, but missed.
The Bucks scored at the line, but Walker hit another three and forced a timeout with the score at 71-69. He hit another three on a side-step move into the corner to cut it to one, and missed a subsequent heat check. He drove and skipped it over the top to Devin Vassell in the corner to tie, but it rimmed out.
The Bucks built the lead back to five, but Vassell dribbled in for a mid-range shot to answer.
Milwaukee hit a corner three, but DeMar got to the line for easy points on the other end. He got in close for a bucket through contact, then dished to Eubanks who hit a hook shot over Giannis.
Rudy Gay hit a jumper, and after Giannis turned it over DeMar attacked Forbes to give the Spurs an 84-83 lead.
Jrue Holiday hit a shot, then stole three free throws from rookie Devin Vassell at the buzzer. Milwaukee led 88-84 with 12 minutes to play. Walker scored 13 points in the third.
Second quarter
Derrick White and Rudy Gay alternated buckets four times, a 9-2 run that gave the Spurs a 42-28 lead. Gay took the challenge of guarding Giannis and did so quite well, and the rest of the team helped and doubled to force the ball out of his hands.
Milwaukee scored 15 in a row to take the lead back. Bryn Forbes hit a couple in-between jumpers off the bounce and Giannis got to the line a few times on questionable whistles. San Antonio struggled to generate open shots and turned the ball over, and on the other end had too many miscommunications.
DeRozan scored to take the lead back, and Johnson drove in through contact for another layup over a seven-footer. they survived over 6 minutes without a made basket, but their 14-point lead evaporated.
Pop called time with the Bucks up three. Lonnie Walker IV jumped a passing lane for a steal, but on the other end DeRozan got hacked with no call so the ball went the other way.
Jakob Poeltl put it on the floor and drove in for an impressive layup, but Jrue Holiday answered with a three.
Lonnie drove in and beat three defenders, including Giannis at the rim with his left hand. With the half winding down he broke up another pass from Giannis, but Holiday beat the halftime buzzer to put the Bucks up 57-50 at halftime.
First quarter
Keldon Johnson took a slow drive to the rim for a scoop layup between a pair of tremendous defenders to get the game's first bucket.
Jrue Holiday hit a jumper, and Lonnie Walker IV, who worked with him in the summer, answered from the same spot.
San Antonio got a little sloppy, turned it over and gave Giannis Antetokounmpo a layup.
Johnson nailed a triple, but Giannis answered DeMar DeRozan hit a few mid-range jumpers in a row. He air-balled one, but came back and knocked down another to give San Antonio a 13-12 lead.
The Spurs swarmed Giannis inside, and on the other end Jakob Poeltl finished a roll and then a tip-in.
Lonnie ran pick and roll deliberately, hitting the jets to beat his man and attacking Brook Lopez with a finger roll finish.
He contributed to a steal on Giannis and put some jelly on the finish in transition, but braced a fall and stayed down for a moment, but remained in the game.
DeRozan spun into a challenging reverse under the basket that he hit with finesse.
He got a switch on former Spur Bryn Forbes, attacked him in the paint, sucked in the defense, and kicked it out to Drew Eubanks in the corner. He jacked up a three and immediately thought he missed it, charging in for the rebound, but the high-arcing shot ripped twine.
DeRozan drove again, finding Gay in the same corner for another three. PJ Tucker forced him to miss everything, but Tre Jones grabbed the board and dished to Eubanks for a buzzer-beating layup.
San Antonio led 33-26 after a quarter, led by DeRozan's 8 points and 4 assists.
Pregame
When, where: Saturday, 8:00 p.m., Milwaukee
All-time series record: Spurs lead 50-41
Last season: Tied 1-1
Season series: First meeting of the season
Last meeting: Spurs won 126-104, January 6, 2020
Bucks' last game: Won vs. Sixers, 109-105 (OT), March 17
Spurs' last game: Won vs. Cavaliers, 116-110, March 19
Bucks' last 10 games/streak: 9-1, won 5
Spurs' last 10 games/streak: 5-5, won 2
Bucks' injury/inactive report: Rodions Kuruks, OUT
Spurs' injury/inactive report: Dejounte Murray, OUT (rest); Patty Mills, OUT (rest); Keita Bates-Diop, OUT (hamstring).
It's hard enough playing in Milwaukee against a Bucks team this stacked, but the Spurs will do it on short rest without two key players in Dejounte Murray and Patty Mills.
Lonnie Walker IV will start after not playing in last night's win. When asked what he would do to replace Murray in the starting lineup, Gregg Popovich took advantage of the opportunity to give a technically correct answer that revealed nothing.
"As you might imagine, somebody takes his place," he deadpanned, before answering a question about the importance of humor, especially during the past year.
"If you don't find an opportunity to smile or laugh here or there you're gonna go crazy. I think anybody in any endeavor in this past year would agree with that," he said. "Human beings understand that humor, it extends your life, it makes situations tolerable."
This is the first game Bryn Forbes will play against his former team, and he's landed in a great situation in Milwaukee. He played the third-most minutes on the Spurs before the bubble last year, but Forbes is the ninth man playing just under 19 minutes per game and producing at a high level, averaging over 9 points per game while shooting 45% from deep.
It got a little bit too close for comfort at the end, but Keldon Johnson led the San Antonio Spurs to a 116-110 win in Cleveland, becoming the first Spur to put up 20+ points and 20+ rebounds in the same game since Tim Duncan in 2013.
DeMar DeRozan had 20 points and 7 assists in his first game in nine days after his father's funeral. Dejounte Murray and Derrick White combined for 39 points, 10 boards and 5 assists,
After Johnson's dominant effort, coach Gregg Popovich may have bestowed a new nickname on him.
"He had 21 boards, he's just a moose, he never stops, he's got aggressiveness 100% of the time on the court," he said.