San Antonio Spurs fall to Charlotte Hornets in Parker’s return

The Charlotte Hornets defeated the San Antonio Spurs 108-93 in Tony Parker‘s return to the Alamo City. LaMarcus Aldridge continued his run of impressive games by recording another double-double with 28 points and 10 rebounds.

San Antonio Spurs fans have had this game circled on their calendars for some time.

It was a packed house on Monday night as Spurs fans came out to see Tony Parker make his return to San Antonio. After spending the first seventeen seasons of his career with the Silver and Black, Parker joined the Charlotte Hornets this past summer.

The four-time NBA Champion and Finals MVP was reunited with former Spurs assistant and current Hornets head coach, James Borrego, in Charlotte.

Parker is one of the most beloved Spurs of all time. Watching him lead championship runs, make All-Star teams, and grow up in front of us was one of the great joys of the Big Three era.

Parker received a welcome appropriate with his place in Spurs history. After a touching tribute video, the Spurs faithful rose and gave Tony a roaring standing ovation.

Welcome back to San Antonio, Tony!#SpursFamily pic.twitter.com/0alzQ5aepF

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) January 15, 2019

Parker would chip in eight points in his return with all of those points coming in the fourth quarter. After taking the lead midway through the first quarter the Hornets would maintain their position for the rest of the night. San Antonio was able to shrink the gap from time to time and even took a lead for a brief moment in the third quarter, but they never really got close to retaking control.

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Kemba Walker led the way for Charlotte with 33 points.

Walker has been a beast all season.

This was the first matchup of the season for these two teams. This meant Bryn Forbes and Derrick White got a taste of what Eastern conference guards have been dealing with all season.

Walker was giving everyone the business and hitting shots from all over the court from start to finish. He showed exactly why he’s a sure-fire All-Star this season.

DeMar DeRozan hasn’t been his normal self since the game against the Grizzlies back on January 9th. Since then his shot has been a little off and he hasn’t been getting to the line as much. He didn’t shoot a single free throw in this loss. He is obviously a key piece to this team’s success and will need to be the player he’s been for most of the season going forward.

It was an off night all around for the Spurs. After an uncharacteristically poor three-point shooting night against the Thunder on Saturday, the Spurs went cold from deep again on Monday.

As the NBA’s best three-point shooting team, this dry spell is very unexpected. Teams have off nights though and this team will surely return to form.

The poor shooting, Charlotte’s dominance on the boards, and a high amount of turnovers ultimately cost San Antonio the game.

The Spurs will travel to Dallas next and face wunderkind Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks. Every game matters in the hyper-competitive West and San Antonio could really use a win.

A get right game against the Mavericks could be just what’s needed to get this team back on the wave they’ve been riding since December.