Luka Samanic shows some flashes in Spurs’ blowout loss to the Clippers

They say if you put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig. I say if the pig feels pretty, that’s all that matters. The Spurs did not feel pretty after Wednesday night’s tromp at the hands of the Clippers, but Luka Samanic managed to contribute 14 points on 6 for 8 shooting in his increased minutes on the court, and that’s all that matters (at least despite the outcome of the game). DeMar Derozan led the good guys with 19 points, and steady vet Patty Mills poured in 17 with 3 made from downtown.

Tall Luka was slow Luka on this adept euro-step to the basket for a running hook against a great defender:

Cool hand Luka only attempted one three for the game, but he showed his craft exclusively at the basket like this underneath reverse layup off of a Derrick White pass:

Jakob Poeltl showed off his vision and passing skills with this nice touch pass to a backdoor cutting Dejounte Murray:

Here, Derrick White danced and weaved in traffic and took a turn around his defender toward the basket for a pretty scoop. Given the injury to DW and the fits in between his starts and sits this season, it’s good to see White really round into shape just in time for the second half of the season.

Despite foul trouble, Poeltl was working hard on both ends of the floor. On this sequence, he blocked a shot and before he started falling out of bounds, managed to tap the ball to Dejounte Murray, and then ran down the court for the deserved reward from Murray:

The Spurs had a few of these defense to offense quick transition plays but probably could have used more given the Clippers’ red hot shooting for the game:

DeMar DeRozan’s no-look bounce pass to Drew Eubanks was almost a nice metaphor for the entire game. If you don’t look, it wasn’t that bad.

And last but never least, the full game highlights:

Next up, the Spurs look for immediate payback as they take on the LA Clippers in the second of their back-to-back matchup on Thursday, March 25, 2021.