Keldon Johnson took over as the Spurs nearly overcame a bad first half against the Heat

In a trend that has ended in both good and bad results over the last year or so, the Spurs had a good stretch of game and bad stretch last night, and it was just a matter of if the good would be enough to overcome the bad. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case in their 105-109 preseason loss to a Miami Heat squad that was resting most of it’s main rotation. In typical Spurs fashion, they got down by 19 points early before rallying back and making it a game in the second half — leaving one to wonder what the result would have been had they just not started so slow — but there was still plenty of good to take away from it.

Keldon Johnson especially shined on offense after the slow start, with 23 points on an efficient 8-13 shooting. He didn’t do much else — the only other other stats he had more than one of in the game were turnovers and fouls — but it was enough to nearly lead the Spurs to victory. Without a defined go-to scorer, they’ll need someone to step up every game, and he was the one last night.

Drew Eubanks got the start in place of a resting Jakob Poeltl, and he also had a solid night with 7 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists. He might be getting more minutes for the next few games depending on the status of Jock Landale, who took a hard knock to the head in the fourth and had to leave the game.

Finally, Dejounte Murray had himself a Murray-esque night with 13 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists. He continues to be the calm leader of the team, which is just what the Spurs need.

The Spurs have two remaining preseason games to keep working out the kinks before the regular season begins. Not surprisingly, they have looked like the young, exciting team they could be in some stretches, and a young, lost one in others. That being said, the unpredictability of who could step up and do something amazing on any given night is a fun part of the process, and one thing is for sure: no one can call these Spurs “boring”.