Spurs Week In Review: Spurs roll up 3 more impressive wins.
By Layton Garrett
The San Antonio Spurs remained on the heels of the Golden State Warriors in the West, rolling to wins over Toronto, Denver and Charlotte last week.
The San Antonio Spurs kicked off their week with the most comprehensive and thorough performance they have played since the season opener when they shell-shocked the Golden State Warriors in Oakland.
The Spurs jumped out to an uncharacteristic nine-point first quarter lead, then outscored the Toronto Raptors by 11 in the second quarter to increase their lead to 19 points. They increased that lead to 30 by the end of the third quarter, and wound up winning handily by 28 points.
The Spurs were clicking on all cylinders including a balanced attack from the bench for 36 points to go with the starters’ huge output of 74 points, led by 25 points from Kawhi Leonard, a 23-8-6 stat line from a red hot LaMarcus Aldridge and 15 points with eight assists from a recently resurgent Tony Parker.
The Spurs shot 55 percent from the field with 32 assists. When the Spurs are moving the ball well on top of hot shooting, they are hard to beat. They also held the Raptors to 37 percent shooting and won the game by a final score of 110-82.
My favorite play of the game is below…..
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The Spurs next traveled to Denver where they almost always get the best of the Nuggets.
The Nuggets hung in there with impressive offensive play until the Spurs made their usual late third-quarter move to go up by 11 points and then put them away in the fourth quarter as per their usual way this season.
The Spurs again shot the lights out with 57 percent from the field to the Nuggets’ respectable 45 percent shooting. Aldridge led the way with 28 points. Leonard had 24 points. Pau Gasol had 17 on 7-of-8 shooting from the field and Parker had 21 points on 10-of-11 from the field to go with 10 assists.
The Spurs’ offense continued to click and has been clicking since there Christmas Day performance against the Chicago Bulls. The Spurs won with a final score of 127-99, making it two 28-point wins in a row.
The Spurs closed out the week in similar style with a 102-85 win over the Charlotte Hornets back in San Antonio. The Hornets played very well and hung toe-to-toe until the Spurs again made their late third-quarter run.
This time Davis Bertans led the surge with an impressive 21-point performance on 5-for-6 from the field and 7-for-8 from the line, including four beautiful 3-pointers and a drive and slam that brought the crowd to its feet.
Aldridge helped out with another impressive outing that accounted for 15 points and 11 boards, and Leonard added 19 points. Dewayne Dedmon was 6-for-6 and finished with15 points and 10 boards, while Patty Mills added 13 points.
The entire team is contributing in obvious, as well as subtle, ways. The Spurs have again retooled themselves after the departure of legend Tim Duncan. The bench is younger, more athletic, bigger and better than last year’s bench.
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With the addition of Gasol in the starting unit, a much more consistent Parker than last year, and the dynamic duo of Leonard and Aldridge , the Spurs are 11 deep and rock solid strong throughout.