San Antonio at Utah, Final Score: Spurs lose heart-breaker to Jazz, 101-99

The Spurs ended up on the wrong side of a back and forth ending.

The Spurs fought hard and had victory in the palm of their hands, but it slipped out in the final minutes of a tough, chippy 101-99 loss to the Utah Jazz. Minus their top three scorers in LaMarcus Aldridge, Kawhi Leonard and Rudy Gay, the Spurs couldn’t score enough down the stretch to hold off the red-hot Jazz and stop their now 10-game winning streak.

After the Jazz took a 54-48 lead at the at half largely thanks to a huge advantage from three — the Jazz shot 8-16 in the first half, the Spurs only hit 1-11 — the Spurs came out fighting in the third quarter, outscoring Utah 29-15 while hitting 4 of 7 threes. The Spurs got up by as much as 13 early in fourth quarter, but the Jazz pulled off an 18-4 run to retake lead with four minutes left. A back-and-fourth final few minutes saw the Jazz come out on top after the Spurs completely botched their final possession.

Six Spurs scored in double figures, led by 16 from Kyle Anderson, but it wasn’t enough to overcome 25 points from Utah’s wonder-rookie Donovan Mitchell and 20 points from Joe Ingles. The Spurs fall to 35-23 (13-17 on the road) and 1-2 on the Rodeo Road Trip.

Random Observations

  • The on-court “feud” that no one asked for or expected but everyone enjoyed in this game was Pau Gasol vs. Joe Ingles.
  • Gasol grabbed his 11,000 career rebound in the first quarter. This also made him only the fourth player in NBA history to record 20,000 points, 11,000 rebounds, 3,500 assists, and 1,500 blocks, joining some elite company in Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan.
  • Manu Ginobili also became only the sixth player in NBA history to score 400 or more points in a season at the age of 40 or older.
  • Davis Bertans currently holds the Spurs record for the most games with a three and a block in his first two seasons at 30-and-counting. Leonard is second with 25. Tonight Bertans was 2-4 from three with 3 blocks.
  • This was a rough night for the refs. There were multiple out-of-bounds calls reversed, flops fallen for, and different calls made at the same time. It’s difficult officiating a chippy game in front of a loud crowd that boos everything (even correct calls), and while neither team necessarily benefited from the officiating more than the other, it’s understandable that no one was overly thrilled.

For the Jazz fan’s perspective, visit SLC Dunk.

The Spurs are headed to Denver for a back-to-back tomorrow night against the Nuggets in the last game before the All-Star Break. Tip-off will be at 9:30 PM CT.

Source: Pounding The Rock

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