Rookie David Jones Garcia ignited a critical run, fueling a surprising Spurs victory despite missing key players.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker delivered the most dominant scoring performance of his career, but a late surge from an unexpected San Antonio contributor sent the Atlanta Hawks to a 135–126 loss on Thursday night.
Playing without Victor Wembanyama for a third straight game, the Spurs leaned on balanced scoring and a fourth-quarter jolt from two-way rookie David Jones Garcia to win their third straight and improve to 11–4 — their strongest 15-game start since 2016–17. Atlanta, still without Trae Young because of a right MCL sprain, dropped its second straight after winning five in a row.
Alexander-Walker entered the night averaging 19.7 points this season and 29.3 over his previous three games, and his surge continued from the opening tip. He attacked the rim, hit pull-up threes and controlled long stretches of the offense. By the time his 38th point fell through the net, he had set a new career high, logging his sixth 30-point game — and his first since Jan. 25, 2022.
But Atlanta repeatedly interrupted its own momentum with the same issues that dug the early hole: turnovers, rushed possessions and players drifting into the same spaces. After the game, Alexander-Walker said the Hawks’ offensive miscues often stem from losing their structure.
“Probably space,” Alexander-Walker said. “A lot of times, we get on top of each other, but it’s because of our chaos. So that goes back… all of us understanding when to speed up, slow down, give it a beat, let it breathe.”
San Antonio punished those lapses, especially early in the second quarter when it opened a 34–12 run. Jones Garcia, who had logged only spot minutes this season, erupted for eight points, three assists, two rebounds and a block in just over eight minutes. The burst stretched the Spurs’ lead to 62–46 and left Atlanta scrambling to regain rhythm. De’Aaron Fox finished with 26 points, Keldon Johnson had 25, Julian Champagnie added 20, and Harrison Barnes scored 14 while surpassing 14,000 career points.
The Hawks steadied themselves after halftime, finally stringing together stops and imposing pace. Head coach Quin Snyder said the team’s defensive urgency flipped the game in that stretch.
“We got back where they weren’t attacking the rim in transition,” Snyder said. “Our shifts were better, our closeouts were better, and we were able to contain the ball more.”
That defensive commitment fueled a run that carried into the fourth quarter. Jalen Johnson attacked the paint, Dejounte Murray found rhythm in the midrange, and Alexander-Walker slipped to the rim for a bucket that gave Atlanta its first lead of the night at 101–100.
But the Hawks couldn’t hold it. Jones Garcia beat them again — first by outjumping multiple players for a rebound and firing a hit-ahead pass to Champagnie for a go-ahead layup, then by stripping Johnson to create a transition dunk for Jeremy Sochan. Within two possessions, Atlanta’s lead was gone and San Antonio’s was back to nine.
“Turnovers and our offense put us in a tough position where we’re giving up buckets,” Snyder said. “And then your focus goes — whether it’s not getting back or having a breakdown — and those things compound.”
The Hawks attempted to regain control by pushing the pace, something Kristaps Porziņģis said the team believes in but struggled to sustain.
“I think we try. I mean, obviously we know it works. When we do it, it works,” Porziņģis said. “It’s just a matter of us sustaining that rhythm and pushing ourselves and having that endurance, like competitive endurance, to just keep doing the same thing and running and getting out.”
Porziņģis said the commitment has to show even when early pushes don’t generate immediate results.
“And even if it’s not for you, but it’s for your teammate,” Porziņģis said. “Those are the sacrifices we have to keep making for us to be really good. And maybe tonight we had some glimpses of not doing that but overall, I can see this group is trying, and we’re working hard, and we want to be a great team.”
Snyder, meanwhile, pointed to the team’s mixed stretches as evidence of how thin the margin can be.
“We know the way we need to play to win,” Snyder said. “There were stretches where we did that and others where we lost focus.”
Atlanta continues its road trip Saturday in New Orleans.