SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Spurs suffered a surprising 117-109 overtime loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers (6-19) at the AT&T Center on Thursday night.

The loss is the first in the last three games for San Antonio, who trailed by as many as 13 points in the second half.

“Cleveland played for 48, we played for 24,” Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich said. “That’s the bottom line.”

Here are three observations from the Spurs’ home loss to the Cavaliers:

Cold from three

The Spurs struggled from three-point land, going 5-for-16 and shooting 31 percent. Compare that to Cleveland’s 15 three’s and you can see one of the reasons the Cavaliers built the lead and kept responding when the Spurs made their run.

Bryn Forbes and Rudy Gay combined to shoot 1-for-6 from beyond the arc. In today’s NBA, you have to be a good shooting team from deep and San Antonio’s Achille’s heel has been that they are too inconsistent too often. That will need to be fixed sooner rather than later.

Free Lonnie

Once again, San Antonio got another solid performance from Lonnie Walker IV off the bench. He scored 10 points and shot 80 percent from the floor, using his speed to his advantage as he slashed his way to the rim. Defensively, he played well off the ball and had a steal and a deflection.

Walker IV was clearly not ready at the beginning of the season but his determination and hard work have given him this moment to shine. Let’s see if he can continue to earn solid minutes moving forward.

Bryn’s cold nights

Forbes has struggled the past few games to get going and that was painfully obvious in the loss on Thursday. He went just 1-for-6 for two points and missed all three of his shots from 3-point range.

When Forbes is not shooting well, he becomes a massive hindrance on both sides of the ball. If he continues to struggle, look for him to possibly be replaced in the starting unit.

UP NEXT:

The Spurs are now 9-15 on the season and will return to the court on Saturday afternoon when they face the Phoenix Suns (11-13) at 4 p.m. from Mexico.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here