Spurs scorch Nets on the back of Vassell’s career night

Devin Vassell scored a career-high 37 points in the win.

Sometimes, you just need to see the ball fall into the net. Devin Vassell has struggled shooting the ball since the All-Star break, shooting 20.5% from three in the weeks since. After a spot-up three went down early in the first quarter, Vassell finally found the rhythm he needed to heat up. His career-high 37 points were just what the San Antonio Spurs needed to defeat the Brooklyn Nets 127-113 and improve to 26-34 on the season.

“I’ve been struggling shooting the ball so I appreciate all of the patience,” Vassell said after the game. “I knew they were going to start falling… finally.”

Vassell led all scorers with 37 on an efficient 14-20 shooting from the field and 8-11 from three. He added 11 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 steals. His offense set the tone in the first and third quarters, then in the fourth quarter when the Nets started to creep back into the game.

He wasn’t the only Spur who was red hot on Tuesday. San Antonio had 6 players score double digits and shot the ball well as a team. They hit 54.7% of their shots from the field and 46.2% from three. Other than the team’s 15 turnovers, it’s hard to find many flaws in their offensive attack. They moved the ball well with 37 assists which marked the 200th game in a row that the Spurs have had 20 or more assists.

After a hot start, the Spurs let the Nets get back into the game early in the second quarter with some turnovers and easy transition buckets for Brooklyn. They responded with some aggressive play at the end of the second quarter that was led by their newly-signed big man Bismack Biyombo. The veteran center had 13 points, 14 rebounds, and 2 blocks in the victory, outplaying two good young bigs in Nic Claxton and Day’Ron Sharpe.

They kept that aggressive play up in the third quarter when they jumped out to a 25-point lead, outscoring the Nets 37-23. San Antonio owned the paint, outscoring the Nets 62-40 on the interior. The starting lineup was excellent in the first and third quarters, where they’ve struggled in the past.

“That starting group was challenged – they’ve had a couple of rough starts in the first and third quarters,” Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson said. “We wanted to see them step up and we knew they were capable of more. We weren’t considering changing the lineup we demanded more from them and they demanded more from themselves.”

It wasn’t just the starters who performed well. San Antonio’s bench unit showed up, particularly Keldon Johnson and Stephon Castle. Johnson had 15 points and 8 rebounds off the bench and created extra possessions by grabbing 4 offensive rebounds. Castle continued his string of good play with 17 points, 6 assists, and 2 steals. He had one of the game’s highlight plays when he tossed the ball off a Nets defender’s back and then slammed it home on a baseline out-of-bounds play.

The Nets got the lead back down to 12 with a fourth-quarter barrage of threes. Vassell responded with his won offensive onslaught to secure the victory for San Antonio. The Nets were led by Cam Thomas and Cameron Johnson who had 24 and 17 points a piece.

The Spurs will hit the road again for a two-game road trip, starting with a game against the Sacramento Kings on Friday night. This will mark the return of De’Aaron Fox after he was traded to the Spurs in February. The Spurs are five games out of the tenth seed with 22 games remaining. A win against the 9th-seeded Kings could help them gain some ground.