San Antonio at Charlotte, Final Score: Fox's late-game heroics can't save Spurs in 117-116 loss
Today at 09:55 PM
San Antonio was milliseconds away from stealing a victory from the red-hot Hornets.
They say basketball is a game of inches. Sometimes it's a game of milliseconds. The San Antonio Spurs found that out the hard way in a 117-116 loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Friday night.
Down one point with 1.7 seconds left on the clock, the Spurs' new point guard, De'Aaron Fox, caught the ball and made one dribble before pulling up for three. The shot swished in... but it was maybe a single point of a second late when it left Fox's hands. Despite Fox's best efforts to will San Antonio to victory down the stretch, they'll leave Charlotte with another disappointing loss.
Despite being one of the worst offensive teams in the NBA, and playing without many key players, the Hornets lit the nets on fire for most of the game. They shot 46.5% from the field and 44.7% from three, making 17 shots from deep. It took a 35-point fourth-quarter explosion from the Spurs to make it a close game.
Miles Bridges hit the go-ahead three for the Hornets and led the team in scoring with 25 points and 7 rebounds. Fox turned in 22 points, 6 assists, and 4 steals for San Antonio. The Spurs will travel to Orlando for a contest against the Magic on Saturday.
Observations
- Stephon Castle handed off the clutch torch to Fox late in the game. Arguably, Charlotte would have blown out the Spurs without the rookie. Castle had a game-high 33 points off the bench on 10-15 shooting. He was impactful on the defensive end, making plays in the passing lanes including a clutch deflection late in the game. For a player who has struggled to shoot the ball, he had a good touch on Friday. He shot 3-5 from deep and 10-11 from the free throw stripe.
- Victor Wembanyama continues to look affected by a sickness that knocked him out of a game last week. His energy level has not been close to the same since getting sick. He had 16 points, 11 rebounds and 5 blocks in the loss. Charlotte attacked him in the half-court time and time again, particularly when he played drop coverage against pick-and-rolls and dribble handoffs. Because Wemby was slow to get a hand up on those plays, the Hornets torched the Spurs in the mid-range, on floaters, and from deep.
- Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson has insisted on starting and finishing games with Chris Paul since the Fox trade. The results have not been great so far. Paul struggled once again with 6 points and 6 assists in 27 minutes. Brides attacked the smaller Paul on dribble drives that often led to easy looks for the Hornets. The Fox and Paul combo creates a size disadvantage on defense and an awkward fit on offense. We'll see if Johnson plays more of Jeremy Sochan or Harrison Barnes alongside Castle, Fox, Wembanyama, and Devin Vassell, moving forward.
- Vassell started the game cold but helped the Spurs get back into the game with some hot shooting down the stretch. He finished with 15 points on 4-7 shooting from deep. His dunk at the end of the third quarter was the shot in the arm San Antonio needed to get back into the game.
