Season 52, Game 50
San Antonio 108, Memphis Grizzlies 85
32-18, 3th in the West
Despite missing key starters, the Spurs should have easily handled this depleted Memphis team, and that’s exactly what they did. Led by Danny Green, Patty Mills, Bryn Forbes, and Pau Gasol, San Antonio cruised to a double-digit halftime lead and put the pedal on the gas in the second half to finish with a 23 point lead over the hapless Grizzlies.
New starting point guard Dejounte Murray played 24 minutes and looked more comfortable leading the “first team” offense. (No offense to Davis Bertans and Kyle Anderson, who started Wednesday night). He finished the night with seven assists and 11 points, including a rare three-pointer.
Murray’s predecessor, Tony Parker, continued to look rejuvenated in his new role coming off the bench. He played 21 minutes, scored 12 points, and reminded us all that he still has some vintage Tony moves in the paint left in his career.
The Spurs put out a very even effort in Memphis, with eight players scoring in double digits. They also notched 29 assists, seven more than their season average of 22.
More thoughts:
- Gasol finished just one assist shy of a triple double.
- Mills knocked down three triples to bring his season average on threes to 38.8%, just behind his career average 39.4%.
- Forbes continues to shoot like crazy whenever he can. He shot 30% against Memphis, but at least he was 50% from behind the arc.
- Anderson didn’t have a statistically great night, but his defensive rating of 78 led all players in the game.
San Antonio heads home to face the upstart Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night at 7:30pm CT.
Go Spurs Go.
