SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Spurs continued their homestand over the weekend, falling 115-109 to the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday night at the AT&T Center.
The loss is the second straight for San Antonio, who fell further behind the Portland Trail Blazers for the final play-in spot in the Western Conference.
Here are three points from Sunday’s loss:
Just not enough
The San Antonio Spurs trailed by as many 15 points. Joel Embiid had a monster game with 38 points and 12 rebounds. Tobias 18 points and 11 rebounds and Furkan Korkmaz had 17 points.
San Antonio rallied in the final quarter, led by Lonnie Walker IV’s 14 points off the bench. Jakob Poeltl led the way with 25 points and 10 rebounds while Dejounte Murray added 19 and 12 assists.
“We’ve seen this story before,” Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich said. “You can’t spot a team a quarter in the NBA and come back when you’re in the situation we’re in. Once again, I’m proud of the way they hung in. They didn’t give in, they kept going, they had their chances at the end. You make it very difficult when you spot somebody a quarter, and we did it again.”
Embiid’s a tough guard
Embiid and Poeltl went head to head down low on Sunday. The Sixers big man sealed the game with a pair of free throws but Poeltl was up for the challenge of going up against Embiid, having a big night of his own.
“He’s tough to guard, as we said. I tried to make it as tough as possible on him,” Poeltl said. “Today we played pretty decent team defense on him for most of that game, but he made some tough shots as well.”
Murray’s closing in on history
Dejounte Murray is closing in on making Spurs history. He is a triple-double machine for the San Antonio Spurs and now is on the verge of passing NBA legend on the list for most triple-doubles in a season for the franchise.
“I think that’s one of our best weapons as a team on offense right now, is that pick-and-roll between me and DJ,” Poeltl said. “He’s very good at finding that pocket, creating shots for himself, creating shots on the weak side.”
UP NEXT:
The San Antonio Spurs are now 17-30 on the season and will return to the court on Tuesday against the Houston Rockets at 7:30 p.m
