Spurs find footing, outlast late Knicks run to win 111-104

After a tough loss the night before, the San Antonio Spurs were able to snap their losing streak on the second night of a back to back against the Knicks.

After giving it their all the night before, the San Antonio Spurs were able to take care of business against the New York Knicks last night, winning 111-104. The victory gave the Spurs a much-needed win and snapped a nasty eight-game losing streak. The eight consecutive losses marked the longest losing streak the Spurs had experienced since Gregg Popovich took over as head coach.

The Spurs came out strong, controlling much of the first quarter and establishing a commanding 32-16 lead. But as the game went on, the effects of playing on the second night of a back to back sunk in and they allowed the Knicks to crawl their way back into it.

New York was able to cut the lead down to seven at one point and there were worries that the Spurs were going to throw this one away. However, San Antonio was able to tighten things up on the defensive end and hold on to escape with a win.

Keep the candles and confetti in storage, this win isn’t a cause for celebration. Yes, the Spurs snapped their losing streak but they did so in a less than impressive fashion. If beating the Knicks becomes a cause for celebration we really need to rethink our standards.

San Antonio won but the second half was incredibly sloppy. The recent game against the Philadelphia 76ers came close but the Spurs still have yet to play a full 48 minutes of their best basketball. Last night was no different. A season-high 22 turnoveres was the ugly black mark on this victory. There aren’t many teams in the NBA you can commit 22 turnovers against, and still win.

Highlight of the night

Don't hurt the rim, @lonniewalker_4! pic.twitter.com/dr0aDZ4pRa

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) November 24, 2019

It wasn’t much but we did get to see a bit more of Lonnie Walker than we have in recent games. In playing just a bit over seven minutes Walker had his third-most minutes on the season. He made one of two shot attempts and played hard in his limited time on the floor. Hopefully, the outing established a little goodwill with Pop and we can look forward to seeing more of Walker in the future.

Game Notes

• The Spurs have struggled from behind the arc all year but got some surprise contributions from deep. Patty Mills was on fire, making all five of his three-point attempts. Patty’s been one of the few reliable three-point shooters San Antonio has. A performance like last night was great to see.
• Trey Lyles was also feeling the long ball. Lyles connected on three of four long-range attempts on his way to contributing 12 points for the Spurs off the bench. Lyles has played pretty well all year but needs to be more aggressive shooting it from deep. San Antonio could use all the three-pointers they can get. Lyles can become an even more valuable role player if continues to shoot like this.

This win is nice but its no cause for celebration. The Spurs are still well below .500 and have a difficult stretch of home games coming up. Both the LA Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers come to town next week in what are sure to be difficult matchups for San Antonio.