Going For Three: Spurs 116, Wizards 99

SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Spurs continued their winning ways on Monday night as they earned a 116-99 victory over the Washington Wizards at the AT&T Center to win back-to-back games for the first time in the 2021-22 season.

San Antonio won consecutive games for the first time since April 2021 and will now look to build on that as they face three tough road games in the next week.

Here are three standout moments from the Spurs’ win over Washington:

Building on success

It may not seem like much but the San Antonio Spurs getting back-to-back wins is a big deal for this young squad. The Spurs used a nice, balanced attack against the Wizards with Dejounte Murray finishing with 22 points and 10 rebounds and Derrick White pouring in a season-high 24 points.

“I just told them right now, this one’s over, too,” Murray said. ”On to the next and let’s build from it.”

San Antonio has Portland, Golden State, and Phoenix all on the road in their next three games. If they can come away with one win against of those hot teams, it would do wonders for the team mindset.

Welcome back, Jak!

Jakob Poeltl had been out of the lineup due to health and safety protocol, only recently returning to the lineup. However, Monday night was the night he looked like the Jakob before entering COVID protocol.

Poeltl finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds, and two blocks. With that stat line, he became the first player from the 2016 NBA Draft with 2,000 career rebounds and 400 career blocks.

“It’s great having Jakob back because he does so many good things, but Thaddeus was fantastic,” Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich said. “Derrick is back to being Derrick White that we all remember, and that’s been a big plus for us…DJ has continued to do what he’s done all season, playing fantastically.”

Teamwork is key

As mentioned above, Monday was a balanced attack for the young Spurs. Keldon Johnson finished with 13 points, including eight in the first quarter.

Spurs Twitter fan favorite Bryn Forbes came off the bench and hit two big three-pointers, scoring 10 points in the San Antonio second unit. Meanwhile, Lonnie Walker IV had just three points but did most of his work on the defensive end, guarding Bradley Beal.

“Lonnie was really important down the stretch for us,” Popovich said. “We challenged him and told him he had Bradley, and he’s got to just do his best, stay down on him. He’s smart. I thought he did an excellent job.”

UP NEXT:

The San Antonio Spurs are now 6-13 on the season and will return to the court on Thursday when they face the Portland Trail Blazers (10-11) at 9 p.m. from the Moda Center.