The San Antonio Spurs put forward a better effort but would fall 132-129 in overtime to the Cleveland Cavaliers (19-45) at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Sunday night to close out their road trip.
The loss is the second straight and second in the last three games for San Antonio, who fell further behind the eighth-place Memphis Grizzlies. Once again, the Spurs played without LaMarcus Aldridge and Jakob Poeltl, who missed the game with injuries. Marco Belinelli also did not play due to illness.
Andre Drummond returned from a leg injury to score 28 points and pull down 17 rebounds while Collin Sexton chipped in 26 in the overtime win.
Three Standout Players
DeMar DeRozan
DeRozan did his best to help the Spurs get the win as he scored 25 points to go along with eight rebounds, four assists, and two steals. With the Spurs trailing by fix, the All-Star forward/guard scored five straight points to bring his team within one.
”With all these guys out, we’re trying to do everything on the fly,” DeRozan said. ”It’s tough, period. The less bodies, the harder it is. It’s exhausting.”
The Spurs did what they could and DeRozan did not shoot the ball well but he still managed to nearly bring the team back. If only he had more help from a team that has struggled with consistency this season.
Rudy Gay
Speaking of struggles, Rudy Gay has struggled the majority of the season. He’s scoring a season-low 9.4 points per game but he managed to turn that all around in the past few games.
Gay scored 19 points off the bench on Sunday, including hitting three consecutive 3-pointers to tie the game. With the Spurs trailing by two, he connected on a jumper to force overtime. Gay has scored in double figures the last three games and has been a spark for San Antonio off the bench as of late.
Dejounte Murray
The Spurs got another big game out of their future point guard, who has shown his growth both in the game and confidence-wise in the last few weeks.
Murray finished the game with 17 points, seven rebounds, six assists, and six steals. His steals looked Kawhi Leonard-like, he went to the paint and was aggressive on both ends of the floor.
UP NEXT:
The Spurs are now 26-36 on the season and will return to the court on Tuesday night when they welcome the Dallas Mavericks (39-26) to the AT&T Center.
