Spurs' held back by 1 issue on frustrating road trip
12/30/2024 07:51 AM
The San Antonio Spurs closed a four-game road trip the way they started it — with a loss to a playoff contender that’s been playing better as of late following a slow start. A 112-110 setback to the Minnesota Timberwolves came a little less than a week after the Spurs fell to the Philadelphia 76ers. Like that Monday night, on Sunday San Antonio held a fourth-quarter lead against a team heading into the final days of 2024 with a three-game winning streak.
“For us, I think our late game execution is an area of improvement for us,” Spurs veteran forward Harrison Barnes said. “We put ourselves in position, battled for 44, 46 minutes to give ourselves a chance to win and then just,”
Barnes then pivoted, admitting, “Finishing out games is something that we can get better at.”
The first-year Spur scored 24 points, coming in behind only Victor Wembanyamama’s 34 among team leaders vs. the T’Wolves.
Spurs road trip plagued by consistent problem
On Christmas Day, the Spurs were up by as many as eight points in the final period vs. the New York Knicks. The same was true Sunday in Minneapolis. At Madison Square Garden, SA erased a five-point deficit following the third. They were tied at 82 after three in Minnesota. They lost to the Knicks by three while the Timberwolves got them by two.
San Antonio’s defeat at the hands of Philadelphia came after the Spurs twice held leads in the final minutes. They had several opportunities to tie or take the lead Sunday and were up until there was about 5:30 left in the contest. They eventually fell in Philly by five.
“I think we felt what will real NBA basketball looks like against good teams,” acting head coach Mitch Johnson said.
The Spurs have been pretty good in close games this year, especially considering they won only 22 games last season. With much of that young core back, the additions of future Hall-of-Famer Chris Paul and Barnes have proven major factors in that improvement. Many of those outcomes, though, have come at home. Barnes sees it that way too.
“Absolutely, I think some of the little things we talked about, whether it’s turnovers, whether it’s offensive rebounds, whether it’s just getting to our spots quickly and giving us ourselves time in the possession to let things play out.”
“I think those are the little things that we can just key on,” he continued.
The only victory of this road trip through the upper Midwest and New York came in Brooklyn. The Spurs fell behind early on Friday but rebounded and never really looked back after taking control in the third quarter. Not coincidentally, the Nets were the one team on this San Antonio swing that’s not expected to contend for a playoff spot.
“I think there’s some takeaways that we should feel really good about and some takeaways that’ll give us much to do to get back to work when we get home,” Johnson said following the loss in Minnesota.
They’re words that apply to the whole road trip as well.
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