Today, the San Antonio Spurs took on the Golden State Warriors on the road.
In the last game against the Boston Celtics, Warriors star Stephen Curry suffered a left-foot ligament sprain and immediately withdrew from the ongoing game. This situation cast a dark shadow on the entire team, and directly led to the Warriors' 88-110 defeat to the Green Army. Currently, the Golden State Warriors are in third place in the West with 47 wins and 23 losses. In today's game, the core players Stephen Curry and James Wiseman are absent due to injury, and the Warriors still face serious challenges.
Similar to the Golden State Warriors, the San Antonio Spurs lost 91-124 to the New Orleans Pelicans in the last game. You know, in the previous game against the Pelicans, the Spurs had effortlessly won this team. The Spurs are currently in eleventh place in the West with 28 wins and 44 losses, and the following schedule is full of opportunities and challenges, if you can grasp it, you may be able to rush into the playoffs. Of course, the premise is to work hard to win every subsequent game. Lonnie Walker, Keita Bates Diop, Romeo Langford, Derwent Cacourt and Doug McDermott are all out of the squad due to injury.
At the beginning of the game, Spurs youngster Joshua Primo assisted Jacob Peltel and Devon Vasell in succession, helping the Spurs to quickly play a 6-0 wave in two minutes. In the absence of Stephen Curry, the Warriors played a little flustered, and Klay Thompson took the lead in breaking the Warriors' scoring drought and stopping the bleeding in time. For the next four minutes, the Spurs kept the point difference at around two goals. With six minutes left in the game, Spurs players Kelden Johnson and Richardson's three free throws helped the Spurs widen the point gap again. The Warriors' offense and defense all fell into the downwind, and the Spurs finally ended the first quarter 36-22. In the second quarter, Klay Thompson hit two consecutive three-pointers at the beginning of the game, awakening the team's offensive vitality. Klay and Poole scored 29 points in the second and third quarters, and although they encountered stubborn resistance from the Spurs, they eventually helped the Warriors enter the final quarter with a one-point lead.
In the final quarter, the Spurs and the Warriors engaged in the most common tug-of-war, and the lead repeatedly changed hands. With the last three seconds left in the game, Warriors player Andrew Wiggins had just hit his first free throw to help the team rally a point 108-107. But the second penalty missed, the ball bounced out of the box, was caught by Spurs center Jacob Pelter, and then the Warriors fouled Pelter and sent him to the free throw line. The first penalty of the slope was firmly hit, 108 draws! Peltel missed the second free throw and the basketball was grabbed and scored by Kelden Johnson. In the end, the Spurs 110-108 Lyc Warriors won the game.
After the game, Spurs player Kelden Johnson gave an interview to the media about the team's defense.
"We have to stay focused at all times and make sure we're screwing the whole team together and we're going to be coordinated on the defensive end. The Warriors' offense is excellent, and it's not easy to defend them. ”
Speaking about his key layup, Kelden said: "I just want to win for the team. I just wanted to get that rebound and then the rest would go with the flow. ”
In this game, Kelden played 34 minutes and had 14 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists, shooting 5-of-15 from the field. In the last 6 games, Kyle has averaged 23.7 points and 7.7 rebounds and shot 50.9% from the field. It is worth mentioning that Kelden has averaged 20 points and 6 rebounds per game since Feb. 1.
Spurs player Josh Richardson said in an interview with the media: "Kelden played a clever round and he put the ball back into the basket. But we're still a young team and we're still learning how to compete against our opponents. And I'm trying to play the role of a veteran and vocal leader. ”
Spurs coach Greg Popovich said of the game in an interview with the media: "I'm very happy that we won this game against the Warriors today, it's a great win, and I'm very excited about that. A compliment must be paid to Kelden Johnson, who helped the team win the game. And we've been playing very tenaciously today. ”