In Salt Lake City, the San Antonio Spurs had high expectations following two performances by Victor Wembanyama. The Utah Jazz had lost their previous five games going into this matchup. The Silver and Black lost their fourth straight game, 128-109, as the Spurs battled with errors for the majority of the match.
For San Antonio, turnovers were the game’s narrative. Big runs for Utah were typically followed by a barrage of Spurs turnovers. Twenty times, the Silver and Black coughed it up, giving up 34 points due to turnovers. Even though the Spurs made a late-game surge, they lost the game handily due to careless errors, which gave the Jazz the upper hand.
San Antonio’s offensive output was lacklustre even in the absence of the turnovers. They scored just 39 points at the half, making only 37.8% of their field goals and 31.3% of their three-pointers. The Spurs missed most of their open shots and lacked players capable of setting up offense. Their bad first-half shooting was offset by a strong second-half performance, as they finished the game with field goal percentages of 46.2% and deep shot percentage of 41.9%.
The bench, especially Zach Collins and Sandro Mamukelashvili, led that second-half surge. Although Collins hasn’t been able to influence games lately, he played strong defence against Walker Kessler and shot the ball well. He made two of his three long shots and finished the game with 17 points and 8 rebounds. Mamukelashivili hasn’t been in the starting lineup much, but he scored 8 points in the third and fourth quarters while playing well offensively.
That second-half surge was led by the bench, particularly by Sandro Mamukelashvili and Zach Collins. Collins shot the ball well and played excellent defence against Walker Kessler, despite his recent inability to impact games. He finished with 17 points and 8 rebounds after making two of his three long shots. Mamukelashivili hasn’t played much in the starting lineup, but he had a strong offensive performance in the third and fourth quarters, scoring eight points.
Zach Collins and Sandro Mamukelashvili in particular led the bench charge during that second-half surge. Collins, who hasn’t been able to influence games lately, shot the ball well and played great defence against Walker Kessler. He converted two of his three long shots, finishing with 17 points and eight rebounds. Despite not seeing much action in the starting lineup, Mamukelashivili scored eight points in the third and fourth quarters thanks to a potent offensive showing.
