Malaki Branham drops career-high 26 points in Spurs loss to 76ers

Coming off a loss at home to the Sacramento Kings Wednesday night, the San Antonio Spurs were looking to finally break their losing streak of seven games in Friday night’s matchup versus the Philadelphia 76ers at home. The Spurs showed some fight and were in this one, until the second quarter and beyond. After being tied 26-26 after one quarter, the Sixers proceeded to outscore the Spurs 111-99 for the rest of the game. The Spurs lost 137-125 and have now lost eight straight games. A positive to note: everyone on the Spurs scored and a rookie scored a career-high.

Malaki Branham got the start and had his best game of the season so far. He dropped a career-high 26 points on 11/16 shooting to go along with three assists, two rebounds, and a steal.

Here he is putting the Spurs on the board first.

That jumper is looking silky smooth!

Mark my words. This kid will become a professional scorer if he hasn’t looked like one already.

Keldon Johnson took the passenger seat to Malaki tonight finishing with 18 points, three rebounds, three assists, and a steal.

Here he is spinning off of Tyrese Maxey for the one-handed finish over Joel Embiid.

Josh Richardson cooked with 10 points, seven assists, two steals, and a rebound. Here he sinks an early three to put the Spurs up five in the first.

Keita Bates-Diop finished with 13 points, five rebounds, two steals, and an assist in this one. Here he pick Embiid’s pocket for the three on the other end.

Zach Collins finished with five points, seven rebounds, and three assists in the game. Here he sinks the free-throw line jumper.

Jakob Poeltl had an impressive showing with 16 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists. Here he finishes with ease thanks to the J-Rich dump-off.

Jak knows when to put his head down and power to the rim for the finish.

Jak returns the favor to J-Rich by assisting him on the open three.

KBD keeps his eyes on the ball and scores off the James Harden deflection.

Blake Wesley finished with nine points and two assists in this one. Here he knocks down his only three of the game early in the fourth.

DOMINICK BARLOW APPEARANCE! He gets a slam dunk off the Isaiah Roby assist. He finished with four points, three rebounds, and an assist in seven minutes.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ISAIAH! Here Isaiah powers his way and finishes over Shake Milton. He finished with four points, a rebound, an assist, and a steal in 10 minutes played.

Stat of the night:

It’s also important to note the Spurs were shorthanded in this one with Tre Jones, Jeremy Sochan, Romeo Langford, and Devin Vassell all out due to their respective injuries. Malaki and J-Rich started at the 1 and the 2 and filled in nicely. KBD did a solid job filling in for Sochan as well. The more playing time the young guys get, the more chance for development later on this season and also for next season. Oh well, we’ll see what the trade deadline has in store.

Anyways, here are the full game highlights.