After former Spur Jock Landale missed two free throws, De’Aaron Fox, with the chance to win the game, was blocked in the final seconds by Santi Aldama, and San Antonio lost a tight one to the Grizzlies 105-106. Cam Spencer scored the final five points of the evening to sesal the victory at the very end for Memphis. San Antonio staked itself to an early first half lead on the road, with Julian Champagnie, Stephon Castle (15 points and 8 rebounds), and Victor Wembanyama (41 points together) nearly
matching the Grizzlies overall production (46).
Champagnie (23 points and 8 rebounds) paced the Spurs’ attack early on, but trailed off thereafter. Keldon Johnson (13 points and 5 rebounds), Wembanyama (30 points and 5 rebounds), and Fox (9 points and 8 assists) provided almost enough fourth quarter heroics. Little-used reserves Jeremy Sochan and Jordan McLaughlin saved the Spurs with an encouraging third period effort.
Memphis, with a litany of players out tonight, found hidden gold tonight in Spencer’s (21 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists) second half explosion. The other Grizzlies’ starters also did well in the home win – Landale (19 points and 9 rebounds), Jaren Jackson, Jr. (21 points and 9 rebounds), while Vince Williams, Jr. (15 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists) and Santi Aldama (10 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 blocks) led the reserves.
San Antonio muscled their way into a first quarter advantage with Champagnie and Castle doing a good amount of the damage. Outside of Champagnie’s 15-point outburst, neither team found consistent success from behind the arc (eventually putting up a combined 17-for-50 for the first half). Wembanyama checked in and did not appear to be too rusty. Memphis ended the first frame a frigid 7-for-28 from the field and down ten.
At the start of the second, Memphis took advantage of Champagnie’s rest and the Spurs’ six straight misses to shave the deficit to two. Williams, Jr. hit two triples during that push, and the Grizzlies quickly caught up to San Antonio. The energized and bouncy Memphis frontline turned away several shots away at the rim impressively, but their penchant for turnovers (a dozen total for the half) prevented them from overtaking San Antonio. The Spurs, behind continue bucket-getting from Champagnie, and steady facilitation from Fox and Castle, got the lead out to 11 momentarily before easing into the half up eight.
Memphis stormed out of the gates to start the third period and re-took the lead midway through. Jeremy Sochan and Jordan McLaughlin were called upon to bring a change-of-anything, and upon insertion, both made immediate impacts to keep Memphis from expanding their newfound lead. Castle created his own 4 (or 5)-point turnaround – after throwing an errant crosscourt pass that was stolen, displayed excellent verticality in defending a Javon Small lay-up at the rim, and then rebounded the miss, was fouled, and hit two free throws. The teams went to the fourth separated by merely one point.
Observations
- After seeing Landale play crunch-time minutes for Memphis against Lakers Sunday night, Jeph Duarte read my mind and provided an excellent state of other former Spurs around the association article! Landale annoyed the Spurs frontline throughout, and was responsible for drawing 2 or 3 fouls on San Antonio in the fourth quarter.
- Those baby blue Memphis unis are just lovely to look at.
- The Dylan Harper and Carter Bryant rotation needs to be bolstered with knockdown shooters. Bryant’s wing attempt in the third didn’t look like a professional shot it.
- Sequence of the Game #1: Midway through the first quarter, and with Wembanyama at the Duncan Memorial left block, he found a cutting Castle for a thunderous two-hand slam. This was the second of the Steph slams in the period.
- Sequence of the Game #2: Late in the half, Fox dribble-drove beautifully through the Memphis perimeter for a lefty floater, and Kelly Olynyk took a charge from Jackson, Jr. at the other end.
- Sequence of the Game #3: After Kornet swatted away a GG Jackson attempt seconds into the third, Champagnie swished a transition three (his fifth) heading the other way.
- Sequence of the Game #4 – Sochan edition: Late in some really important and rare third quarter Jeremy minutes, Sochan ripped the ball from Santi Aldama, found a streaking Champagnie on the right sideline, and he found a slicing Castle for yet another emphatic slam.
- Sequence of the Game #5: After Wembanyama lost the ball in the Memphis paint, his guards walled off the rim to prevent a transition bucket. Wembanyama then knocked down a three at the other end to put San Antonio up one.
Game Rundown
Speaking of Landale, he had a handful of Memphis’ first points in the opening moments. Castle started things off with a soaring dunk, while Champagnie re-captured his shooting magic from the Knicks game to help San Antonio get into the lead. Wembanyama recorded a handful of points and a block in his return to the line-up. A different Grizzly guard shot well from distance in each of the first two periods – with Jaylen Wells netting nearly a quarter of his team’s output. San Antonio left the first up 31-21.
Williams, Jr. was the Memphis guard that shined in the second. The teams had trouble hitting from anywhere outside the paint until a pair of his threes went down for the Grizzlies. Wembanyama’s wing three put a pause to an 13-3 Grizzlies run. Williams, Jr. third three tied things at 37. Jackson, Jr. fell on Castle’s lower leg midway through the stanza, but the Spur guard stayed on the court. He didn’t seem too affected by the tumble and hit a smooth three. Keldon’s willful banker and Kornet’s pretty reverse lay-in ended a 9-0 Spurs run. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope knocked down two buckets in response. Memphis turned it over on 3-of-4 possessions, but the Spurs could have made them pay far worse than a couple of points. While both teams continued to build a house with their bricks from three, Champagnie hit two floaters near the elbows. San Antonio went to the half up 54-46.
Coming out of the break, Champagnie and Cam Spencer traded deep salvos. Two more threes from the Memphis Jackson’s (GG and Jaren) helped make it a one-possession game. Wells’ outside three and Spencer’s basket put the Grizzlies back up. Harper’s stepback halted the Grizzly run, but the Spurs’ ineffectiveness caused Coach Johnson to insert McLaughlin and Sochan. Sochan applied upcourt pressure and forced an 8-second violation, while McLaughlin hit a crucial three for that tenuous moment. McLaughlin then stole an inbounds pass and found Sochan for a transition score. Wembanyama’s and-1 and traditional three put San Antonio back up two. Sochan figured prominently into several key scoring and defending sequences for the Spurs to help them get up four. Spencer found Jackson, Jr. for his fifth three, and Memphis went to the fourth up one.
For the Grizzlies fan’s perspective, please visit Beale Street Bears.
San Antonio returns to San Antonio for another SEGABABA against Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers tomorrow night at 8:30 PM CDT.
