The San Antonio Spurs fought hard but would run out of gas in a 135-129 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks (14-5) at the Fiserv Forum on Saturday night.
The game completes five games in seven night stretch for San Antonio, which saw them finish with a 2-3 record. The Spurs have now lost three of their last four games and are 3-7 in their last ten games overall.
“The second unit saved our butt,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “The first unit got in a big hole very quickly. I was proud of the second unit for getting us back in the game. The second team saved us.”
Here is what went good and bad for the Spurs, as well as three standout players: DeMar DeRozan, Bryn Forbes, and LaMarcus Aldridge.
The Good:
- The Spurs’ bench did, in fact, save the Spurs on Saturday, scoring 47 of San Antonio’s 129 points on the night.
- Davis Bertans and Marco Belinelli combined for 29 points and 6-for-12 from three-point range.
- DeMar DeRozan’s slam on Giannis deserves to make the SportsCenter Top 10.
The Bad:
- The Spurs had no answer for Giannis Antetokounmpo or Malcolm Brogdon, who combined for 57 points, with Brogdon hitting the game-sealing three-pointer with 8.9 seconds remaining.
- San Antonio had just 10 turnovers on the night, but five of them came in the final 12 minutes of the game.
Three Standout Players:
DeMar DeRozan:
The guard put the team on his back once again as he put on a show in the second half but it would not be enough to get the Spurs the win.
DeRozan finished the game by tying his season-high of 34 points on 50 percent shooting from the floor, dishing out seven assists and grabbing four rebounds.
If San Antonio was at full strength or gelled more, one could wonder how the game on Saturday might have finished.
Bryn Forbes:
Another game and another solid night at the office for the former Michigan State Spartan.
Forbes finished with 18 points on the night, going 8-for-11 from the field and connecting on both of his three-point attempts. One of those three’s came after Milwaukee went on an 8-0 run to take a four-point lead in the fourth quarter.
LaMarcus Aldridge:
One night after scoring 33 points, Aldridge did his best to help out DeRozan in the scoring column against the length Bucks front line.
Aldridge finished with 15 points on 50 percent shooting from the field and got aggressive with The Greek Freak, drawing fouls and banging down low with him.
“It was a tough back-to-back and we started slow,” Aldridge said. “The second unit was great and got us back into the game. We were in the game the whole time, we just couldn’t get a stop down the stretch.”
UP NEXT:
The Spurs are now 9-10 on the season and will return to the court on Monday night when they travel to take on the Chicago Bulls (5-15) at 7 pm Central Time at the United Center.