The San Antonio Spurs will look to regain their shooting touch when they host the Chicago Bulls on Thursday in an interconference clash.
It’s the only time the teams will square off this year in the Alamo City, where the Spurs have dropped two straight to Chicago, and Victor Wembanyama is not available because of a bad back.
The Spurs head home after a 104-93 loss in Phoenix on Monday, their second in the last three games following a four-game winning streak.
Devin Vassell had a team-high 25 points off the bench and Wembanyama notched 15 points and 13 rebounds. Stephon Castle scored 16 points, Jeremy Sochan had 14 and Keldon Johnson put up 10 for San Antonio.
The loss eliminated the Spurs from the NBA Cup as they shot 35 percent from the floor and just 18.2 percent (8 of 44) from beyond the arc. Wembanyama was scoreless in the first half and went only 1 of 9 on his 3-point shots.
San Antonio’s defense did its part, limiting the Suns to 48.7 percent from the field.
“The defensive effort was really good,” Spurs acting coach Mitch Johnson said. “But we turned the ball over and we missed a lot of shots. Those two things really out a lot of pressure on your defense, and I thought it held up pretty well.”
San Antonio trailed by 13 at the half but cut the deficit to two with 7 1/2 minutes to play in the third quarter. The lead was only four heading to the final quarter but Phoenix went on a 7-0 run to open the quarter and stayed ahead from there.
Wembanyama was slow to get up after a play that occurred with 2:23 remaining when he drove to the basket but was whistled for a charge. Wembanyama is averaging 23.5 points, 10.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists and leads the NBA with 3.4 blocks per game. Earlier this week, he was named Western Conference Defensive Player of the Month.
Chicago won’t miss him when it heads south to San Antonio following a 128-102 win over Brooklyn on Monday to snap a two-game losing streak. Josh Giddey notched his first triple-double of the season with 20 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists.
Nikola Vucevic added 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulls, rookie Matas Buzelis hit for a career-high 20 points, Zach LaVine had 18 points, Ayo Dosunmu put up 16 and Talen Horton-Tucker scored 11 points for Chicago.
“It was cool,” Giddey said of his triple-double. “The guys made my job easy. We played the right way. I was able to throw the ball ahead. Guys made shots, got to the rim. Team effort. We did it by committee, and that’s how it’s got to be every night.”
The Bulls shot 52.2 percent from the field and 34 percent from beyond the arc while holding big advantages in rebounds (54-41), fastbreak points (32-15) and points in the paint (62-40).
The 20-year-old Buzelis has played a more significant role with the team, logging at least 17 minutes in four straight games off the bench for the first time. He drew plenty of praise from Chicago coach Billy Donovan for his sticktoitiveness.
“The thing I admire is Buzelis keeps coming back and that he understands there is a learning curve for him in this process,” Donovan said. “If he does something, he tries to learn from it and move forward. It doesn’t deter him in his energy and the way he plays.”
–Field Level Media
