The San Antonio Spurs are currently on a five-game losing streak, which, in the Western Conference, is going to be hard to recover from since the West is stacked with great teams. The Spurs’ biggest struggle is their inability to close out games. The most notable example is the game against the Atlanta Hawks, when they were outscored 22-38 in the fourth. This week, the Spurs faced the Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves, Orlando Magic and Portland Trail Blazers and lost to all of them, which put the Spurs at 5-8 and made them the 12th seed in the West.
The Spurs’ first game this week was against the Memphis Grizzlies at the AT&T Center. This game was close as the score was tied until Jae Crowder of the Grizzlies hit a crucial three during the last two minutes of the game. The Spurs’ inability to score after that cost them the game. The Spurs did not have a bad game as five Spurs posted double-digit points, but the Spurs had a total of 13 turnovers and allowed the Grizzlies to get seven steals. This game was important because it would be the game that Tony Parker’s number was retired into the rafters, a huge moment in the Spurs organization.
Final score 113-109 Grizzlies
The next game was against the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the battle of the duos took place with DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge facing off against Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins. The game was close as it went into halftime as the Timberwolves held a seven-point lead. The Spurs were outscored in the second half, which led to a Timberwolves victory of 15 points. The biggest surprise of this game was the way Andrew Wiggins played as he led in scoring with 30 points, which made him look like the player everyone thought he was coming out of college.
Final Score 114-129 Timberwolves
The Spurs played another away game against the Orlando Magic at Amway Center, and they dropped the ball in the second half. Going into halftime, the Spurs were up by nine points, and by the end of the game, they would lose by two points. The Magic hit multiple threes in the last minutes of the fourth quarter, which made the Spurs play catch up for the rest of the fourth. Even though the Spurs lost this game I saw some improvements in the Spurs’ confidence and shooting the ball, but this was coupled with the Spurs not being able to play off the ball well.
Final Score 109-111 Magic
The final game the Spurs played this week was against the Portland Trail Blazers, and the Spurs lost after a 15-point comeback from the Trailblazers. The Spurs were up by 15 points in the fourth, but after an 11-point run by the Blazers, and CJ McCollum having a huge fourth quarter, the game ended as a Blazers win. The Blazers would outscore the Spurs 31-20 in the fourth, which led to the Spurs’ fifth loss. A notable moment during the game was when Popovich was ejected from the game after he stepped foot on the court when arguing with a referee. This would allow Becky Hammon to see her first minutes as a head coach.
Final Score 121-116 Blazers
