San Antonio vs. Milwaukee, Final Score: Spurs gore the Bucks, 121 - 114

The Spurs fell behind early due to poor shooting and the Bucks jumped out ahead early. Shooting just 23% from three in the first half meant the Spurs were playing from behind all night while trying to claw back into the game. Giannis Antetokounmpo was his expected terror on both ends of the floor grabbing rebounds and stampeding towards the basket for buckets.

The Spurs went on a run in the second half thanks to DeMar DeRozan making shots and finding teammates for open looks. It was one of the more aggressive and energetic third quarters the Spurs have played this season. Starting out cold from behind the arc, the Spurs heated up in the second half behind hot shooting from Marco Belinelli and Patty Mills.

LaMarcus Aldridge and DeRozan put in work all night contributing 29 and 28 points, respectively. The good guys without Rudy Gay (out sick) were able to beat the East’s best team Sunday night.

Aimless Observations:

• It feels like yesterday (March is such a blur for me—it probably was yesterday) when Pau Gasol left San Antonio for Milwaukee. Still feels weird seeing him on the opponent’s bench.
• The Spurs made an effort to go right at Gasol on defense when he was in, predictably to positive results. While he showed he still has some game on offense with a three and more hockey assist than the one regular assist he recorded, his agility is gone on defense. This was truly a case of “box score don’t lie”, with his -20 only being exceeded by Malcolm Brogdon’s -27.
• DeRozan is a case of “box score kinda lies”. While he was a team worst -12 on the night, a lot of that can be attributed to the first half, when the Spurs weren’t running any offense and settling for iso-jumpers, DeRozan being one of the main culprits. From their late first half flurry and on, he led the way with drives and kicks to get shooters open, and the offense flowed much better from then on.
• The Bucks are fun to watch and easy to root for.
• It may not be ideal, but I thought Aldridge did an admirable job defending Antetokounmpo throughout many stretches, esspecially with Gay out. It was a good team effort to hold him to “only” 27 points.
• Coach Gregg Popovich has to be somewhat happy with the Spurs’ overall defense tonight, scrambling and running shooters off the three-point line.
• Every NBA team should have three days off between games, but that is why I’m not the commissioner.
• The Spurs now have wins against all 11 the teams with the same or better record than them. If they had just taken care of the bottom feeders, their positing and outlook would be a lot different.

Tune In Next Time:

San Antonio heads to Dallas to take on the Mavericks on Tuesday, March 12, 2019 at 7:00 PM CDT.