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San Antonio found themselves on the wrong end of a blowout on Wednesday night after demolishing the short-handed Trail Blazers in their previous outing. The Spurs trailed from end to end, and though they narrowed the deficit to five points in the second quarter, this game brought their frustrating early-season inconsistency to the forefront.
While there were some admirable efforts around the roster, it was clear from the opening tip that Steph Curry and Warriors had more horsepower than the good guys. Silver and Black starters not named Dejounte Murray combined for 33 points on a glacial 8-of-34 display from the field, and only the fourth-year guard had the stats to match his intensity.
Despite five consecutive misses from San Antonio to begin the game, Dejounte refused to give up on this play, fighting for an offensive board and knocking down a pull-up jumper off a beautiful left-to-right crossover.
.@DejounteMurray with the second chance bucket pic.twitter.com/k05RkjfJQ1
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) January 21, 2021
The Washington University alum continued to go all-out with his team trailing, punishing Steph Curry for a lackadaisical half-court pass that he cashed in for his signature breakaway steal and slam.
Signature play alert@DejounteMurray steal and slam pic.twitter.com/TRblWJK3tg
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) January 21, 2021
Even some of the Spurs highlights were a bit awkward, with Patty Mills rattling home a mid-range attempt after picking up an inadvertent piggyback ride from a grounded Kent Bazemore.
whatever works ♂️ @Patty_Mills pic.twitter.com/BXY1JfZlBT
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) January 21, 2021
This nifty behind-the-back assists from Rudy Gay for a Devin Vassell corner-three might have been the prettiest play from San Antonio in an otherwise sloppy showing.
Rudy dishes out some FILTH to Devin in the corner@RudyGay ➡️ @Yvngdevo pic.twitter.com/TdYc8O4pll
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) January 21, 2021
Although the 2020 first-rounder got ball-faked into oblivion by Steph Curry earlier in the proceedings, he made up for it a few possessions later by sticking to the former MVP like glue and forcing a jump-ball.
@Yvngdevo pic.twitter.com/QkmoIPPRWr
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) January 21, 2021
Jakob Poeltl momentarily silenced his haters when he caught the ball in full stride down the lane and took off from surprisingly far out for a statue of liberty jam.
POELTL JAM pic.twitter.com/ilgxNepTf9
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) January 21, 2021
Dejounte remained aware and active in the passing lanes, picking off another lazy delivery from Curry and heading the other way for his second solo fastbreak of the contest.
.@DejounteMurray throwing it down
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) January 21, 2021
DJ has a team-high 17 PTS pic.twitter.com/6KY04Nq3W2
Murray carried some of that defensive aggression over to the other side of the ball as he trapped rookie center James Wiseman on his back and perfectly executed this and-one finish at the rim.
DJ ballin!
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) January 21, 2021
✌️ + ☝️ for the PG @DejounteMurray pic.twitter.com/3H7EQkpR0q
And if for any odd reason you would like to relive San Antonio’s massive throttling, here are the full game highlights:
The Spurs return to the friendly confines of the AT&T Center on Friday for an interstate matchup with Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks.