Dejounte Murray continues his scoring streak in Spurs’ loss to the Cavaliers

The hits keep on coming, but the Spurs keep on swinging. The good guys lost another close game despite herculean efforts by Dejounte Murray and company. Murray kept up his torrid scoring pace with 30 alongside 14 rebounds and 8 assists. Jakob Poeltl did not register a point but anchored the defense with 12 defensive boards (14 total) and 3 blocks.

Murray continues to make his case for an All-Star spot. While the field is crowded and his path is uphill, you love to see his growth this season. At many times in his still very young career, it did seem that Murray reached a ceiling in his abilities. This season is showing that he has put in the work to make the leap, and his development is far from over.

Terry Cummings and Artis Gilmore would make for perfect answers for a game of Spurs Trivia.

A Church’s Chicken opened in my hometown (Plainview, TX) recently, and there’s a minimum ten-car line waiting for fried chicken. People like new, unknown things. This play by Devin Vassell reminded me of new things we like. We also like Vassell to keep turning defense into quick, easy points. Although he’s not an unknown, the Spurs are eager to see the second-year player continue to grow.

The Spurs welcomed back Doug McDermott, and he immediately got back to stretching the defense with his three point shots. McDermott went 3 for 6 from beyond the arc, and the Spurs will need his long-range shooting to keep the paint area traffic light.

My favorite part of this sequence was not Jock Landale’s incredible block, but the great effort he put into running up the court so fast that his face almost intercepted Murray’s pass to Lonnie Walker. His life probably flashed before him as that ball whizzed by in front of him.

I don’t know about you all, but I’d rather see this version of Space Jam starring Jock Landale. The City Edition jerseys already look like the Space Jam road alternatives.

Dejounte Murray went up into the trees and came down with a put back. Some NBA purists will have you believe that triple-doubles are full of cheap, empty stats like finishing a bag of HEB jalapeno chips are full of cheap, empty calories. But you cannot argue that Murray’s nightly flirtations with triple-doubles and a stupendous effort like this, between two 7-footers no less, on a nightly basis to keep his team competitive is a bad thing.

Keldon Johnson pulls off this pretty euro-step by deftly navigating through four Cavaliers, making the entire sequence look like bullet time from The Matrix.

The Spurs’ recent string of losses have me feeling like Oedipus. I didn’t want to draw you a graphic interpretation of the tragic Greek story, so fortunately the Coyote did it for us. Some things you cannot unsee, like Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.

And last but never least, the full-game highlights:

Next up, the Spurs take on the Los Angeles Clippers in their second game of the back-to-back home-stand on January 15, 2022.