The San Antonio Spurs barely beat the New Orleans Pelicans, giving up a massive lead in the second half, although they got the win and will move on to the next game against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Getting a win is always cause for celebration, although beating the New Orleans Pelicans by only three points, as the San Antonio Spurs did, is hard to justify excitement.
The Spurs led by as many as 25 points in the game before the Pelicans roared back. It took Saddiq Bey missing a one-legged 3-pointer to avoid overtime. Despite veteran additions to the Spurs team, they finished like an inexperienced squad that can't be trusted down the stretch.
"We probably weren't playing as well as the scoreboard said when we were up 25, I think we made a ton of shots," said Mitch Johnson after the game.
Despite the win, Johnson had a lot of criticisms for his team, and it's hard to say that it was undeserved.
"You want to start strong, you want to finish strong, you want to maintain throughout, you want to finish quarters, you want to start quarters," he explained. "But that clearly has been something that we have a lot of improvement to do. And it's been a variety of people, right? It's not been the same combination or the same thing over and over. But, yeah, just the lack of focus, lack of concentration, when things are starting to slide away from us individually, collectively, tightening all the way up."
The Spurs were led by 24 points from Harrison Barnes, and Dylan Harper scored 22 off the bencgoodIn his return from injury, Stephon Castle posted 18 points, as well as five rebounds and five assists. His do-all approach doesn't seem to have been hampered by injury, and his return gives the Spurs a boost in the backcourt.
On defense, San Antonio continued to struggle against young centers. Kel'el Ware and Dereck Lively II have had field days in the past against the Spurs, and now Derik Queen has joined the ranks. The rookie led all scorers with 33 points, and posted ten rebounds and ten assists as well.
Add in his four blocks, and it looked like a Victor Wembanyama statline. Jeremiah Fears was held to five points, so it seems to be a big man problem the Spurs have, not a rookie issue.
While the win was ugly, the Spurs weathered the storm. On Wednesday, they will travel to Los Angeles to take on the Lakers in NBA Cup action, the first time they have made it to the knockout stage.
There is hope that Wembanyama might be able to return in time, but nothuing is set in stone.