Spurs’ role players step up but fall short to Warriors

Despite a late rally, the San Antonio Spurs fell to the Golden State Warriors at home on Saturday, 100-94.

The Spurs were without five of their regular starters on the night with Dejounte Murray, Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson, Doug McDermott and Jakob Poeltl all ruled out for the contest. Still, players who normally come off the bench for the Silver and Black received extended minutes and stayed competitive against a team that’s contending for the Larry O’Brien trophy.

Lonnie Walker the IV led the way off the bench, scoring a game-high 24 points to go along with five rebounds.

San Antonio also got another strong outing from Tre Jones, who’s looked more and more comfortable filling as a starter for DJ while the All-Star’s been out sick. Jones ended the game with 15 points and handed out seven assists — his fourth game in a row with at least seven dimes.

Josh Primo ended the evening with 14 points, shooting 3-6 from outside. The rookie stepped up big in the fourth quarter, scoring eight of his points in the period and hitting a free throw to cut the deficit to 96-94 with two minutes left on the clock. The Spurs wouldn’t score another point in the game and suffered the loss, but Primo had them in position to complete the comeback.

San Antonio concludes its regular season finale on Sunday at 8:30 p.m., going up against the Dallas Mavericks. Catch the full game highlights from Saturday’s game below: