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Spurs crushed by 76ers at home: Three Standout Players

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Spurs crushed by 76ers at home: Three Standout Players
Photo courtesy: San Antonio Spurs/NBA

SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Spurs opened a five-game home-stand with a crushing 97-78 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers (24-21) at the AT&T Center on Friday night.

The loss saw the silver and black score a season low 78 points and tied a season low in points in a quarter with 13 in the first 12 minutes. The Spurs were without Manu Ginobili, Kawhi Leonard, and Rudy Gay once again as well.

Here is what went good and and for the Spurs, as well as three standout players: LaMarcus Aldridge, Pau Gasol, and Dejounte Murray.

The Good:

  • LaMarcus Aldridge had a solid nights work in a game where most of the Spurs struggled to score the basketball.
  • When you lose on your home court to a team that is 11-11 on the road and trail by 24, its hard to find good things in that type of game. I’ve got nothing.

The Bad:

  • San Antonio struggled in the first quarter, turning the ball over and not converting on shots. The Spurs scored just 13 points in the opening 12 minutes, tying their season low for points in a quarter.
  • The Spurs were ice cold from three point range, going 3-for-24 (12 percent) for the game. San Antonio went 0-for-14 from beyond the arc until Bryn Forbes converted in the second half.
  • Patty Mills struggled going 2-for-5 from the field and had just five points. What makes Mills’ performance so questionable is he missed all of his three pointers with no one guarding him. Maybe some confidence issues going on? We shall see.
  • Danny Green also had a poor night, but shot 1-for-7 from the floor and missed all five of his three point attempts.

Three Standout Players:

    LaMarcus Aldridge: In a game where no one could hit the side of a barn, LaMarcus Aldridge did his best to carry his team. Aldridge finished with 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting in 32 minutes.

Aldridge was aggressive as he went up against first time NBA All-Star Joel Embiid in the paint as well as Dario Saric. LaMarcus held Embiid to just 18 points on the defensive end of the ball. If only he had some help offensively, you could imagine what the game may have been like.

    Pau Gasol: Helping out Aldridge in the post was Pau Gasol, who continues to show why having a veteran center in today’s NBA is still so important. Gasol finished with 11 points and four rebounds on Friday night.

Gasol and Aldridge combined for 29 of San Antonio’s 78 points. Despite his age of 37, the veteran shows why he and Aldridge work so well together in wins and even in blowout losses like Friday night.

Dejounte Murray    Dejounte Murray: When Coach Pop gave Murray the keys to the Spurs’ offensive car, he knew there would be games where he struggles and flourishes. Friday night was one of those struggling nights for the second year guard.

Murray had a solid game with 10 points, nine rebounds, five assists. The struggling part came from his teammates. Davis Bertans threw a pass to Murray in the corner, but instead cut to the basket. The result was a turnover on Davis’ part. The thing is, the team will have to adjust to having Murray as their leader and this is likely to happen sooner rather than later.

Up next:

Sacramento Kings (15-33) at San Antonio (32-19)

AT&T Center – San Antonio, TX

Sunday, January 28 – Tipoff: 6 p.m. CT

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