Just two days after giving up 44 third-quarter points to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a loss on Friday, the San Antonio Spurs found themselves in a similar position in New Orleans. The Spurs saw their 20-point halftime lead evaporate into a 2-point deficit after giving up 45 third-quarter points to the Pelicans’ 26th-ranked offense. They relied on their rookie sensation, Dylan Harper, to secure clutch baskets and deliver the Spurs a 135-132 victory.
“I was pretty disappointed with how we came out at half,” Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson said. “Give them credit, JB’s got them playing hard, and they didn’t quit, and they made some shots, and they flipped the game. Then you’re in a dog fight.”
Harper had 22 points and 6 off the bench, including 9 points and 3 assists in the fourth. He scored the go-ahead bucket to give the Spurs the lead with 9 seconds left in the game. Harper grabbed the inbounds pass and immediately drove the ball to the cup, finishing with his right hand over traffic. After the Pelicans ran a bizarre play that resulted in a Derik Queen missed three-pointer (he’s shooting 11.8% from deep this season), the Spurs walked away with the win.
Queen was the game’s most dominant player and made the biggest impact during the Pelicans’ third-quarter run. The New Orleans rookie big man had 33 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, and 4 blocks. He had 21 points on a perfect 6-6 shooting from the field and 8-8 shooting from the line in the third quarter alone.
The rest of the Pelicans joined Queen in a scorching third quarter. Trey Murphy III and Saddiq Bey got hot as the Spurs couldn’t stop New Orleans from scoring inside. San Antonio was once again outscored by 20+ points (84-62) in the paint, as the Pels were able to get anything they wanted inside. Meanwhile, New Orleans’ two-three zone defense completely disrupted the Spurs’ offensive rhythm. Only three Spurs scored a bucket in the third quarter: Harrison Barnes, Kelly Olynyk, and Stephon Castle.
“They’ve (third quarters) have consistently not been up to our standards,” Johnson said. “It’s been a variety of people. It’s not been the same combination or the same thing over and over. The lack of focus, lack of concentration, when things are starting to slide away from us individually. Collectively, tightening all the way up to say, ‘okay, this is not going to happen, I am going to leave less for chance.’ We need to be better, and I think we will.”
That third quarter would have ensured a loss for the Spurs if they hadn’t been red hot in the first half. San Antonio scored 77 first-half points, including 42 points in the second quarter. The Spurs couldn’t miss from three, making 11 triples in the first half. Even during that hot stretch, it was clear that the Spurs weren’t playing their best. They were still turning the ball over and allowing the Pelicans to get easy buckets in the paint. Their hot shooting covered up a lot of mistakes all night.
“We probably weren’t playing as good as the scoreboard said when we were up 25 – we made a ton of shots,” Johnson said. “They were on track for 84 points, with 42 points in the paint in the first half. There were a lot of smoke signals that were warning us that the scoreboard wasn’t as real as it said it was.”
If it weren’t for some timely buckets by the bench unit, the Spurs’ mistakes might have buried them. Julian Champagnie and Kelly Olynyk joined Harper as San Antonio’s bench heroes. Champagnie was red hot from three with 17 points, hitting five of his nine deep shots. Olynyk had his best game as a Spur, with 11 points and 2 steals.
San Antonio also got Castle back in the lineup for the first time since November 16th. He settled in after a rough start, finishing the game with 18 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 turnovers. The Spurs finally got to show off their three-guard rotation with Castle, Harper, and De’Aaron Fox. The guard trio gave San Antonio a steady stream of players who can get to the basket and set up other players.
The Spurs improve to 16-7 this season, with a 10-0 record against sub-.500 teams. San Antonio will travel to Los Angeles for their NBA Cup game against the Lakers, in which we could see Victor Wembanyama suit up for the first time in a month.
