SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Spurs could not rally from down double digits as they fell 110-105 to the Miami Heat (35-36) at the AT&T Center on Wednesday night in Dwyane Wade’s final game in the Alamo City.
The loss snapped the Spurs’ nine-game winning streak and their 11-game home winning streak as San Antonio lost at the AT&T Center for the first time since January 20.
“We didn’t play for three quarters,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “You can’t let three quarters go and expect it to go your way. I was proud of them for sucking it up and getting back in the game.”
Here is what went good and bad for the Spurs, as well as three standout players: LaMarcus Aldridge, Patty Mills, and Marco Belinelli.
The Good:
- The Spurs showed flight and heart despite going down 18 points in the second half. They would fight hard to get stops and convert buckets to get back into the ball game.
- DeMar DeRozan finished with a career-high 15 rebounds to go along with 16 points.
The Bad:
- Derrick White had a rough shooting, finishing with 3 points on 1-for-8 shooting. He and Bryn Forbes combined for 11 points on 4-for-17 shooting.
- DeRozan may have had a big block in the final seconds but he also had two costly turnovers. The final one, a steal by Wade, would seal the loss for the Spurs.
- The Spurs had trouble figuring out the Miami zone as the Heat doubled DeRozan early and often and switched constantly to prevent the Spurs from moving the ball.
Three Standout Players:
LaMarcus Aldridge:
The Spurs big man tied for the team lead in points and did his best to lead San Antonio’s comeback.
Aldridge finished with 17 points on 60 percent shooting from the floor, going along with eight rebounds. Miami was aggressive with their zone defense but Aldridge did his best to stay composed through it all.
Marco Belinelli:
Belinelli continues to show why he has been dubbed “The Professional” by fans as he continues to shine in his role off the bench.
The veteran forward/guard finished with 17 points off the bench as he helped the Spurs rally from 15 points down in the first half and cut the deficit down to make it more manageable.
Patty Mills:
The Spurs veteran guard and fan favorite broke out of his slump on Wednesday as he led the Silver and Black in scoring.
Mills finished with 17 points off the bench as he went 5-for-9 from three-point range. He added six assists to his stat line as he found his teammates for buckets. Despite the loss, Mills admitted this would only help the team moving forward.
“It’s good for us to go through this now,” he said. “Before this road trip so we can see how we need to get better and we will get better.”
UP NEXT:
The Spurs are now 42-30 on the season and will return to the court on Friday night when they open a three-game road trip in Houston against the Rockets (45-26) at 7 pm Central Time from Toyota Center.
