Game 46: Wemby-less Spurs barely fall to Heat after Bam Adebayo game winner

(1) Spurs player observations (2) Fox Watch (3) Instant reaction to the Luka Doncic - Anthony Davis trade

Photo credit: Reginald Thomas II, Spurs.com

Entering the Game

The Miami Heat were favored by 3 points and they were without Jimmy Butler (suspended from team) and Josh Richardson. Victor Wembanyama (illness) was a late scratch, so Charles Bassey started in his place. Friday in his postgame presser, Wemby had said he had been under the weather since returning from France. He had been having allergy-like symptoms.

This is the Story of a Game

Minus Wemby, the Spurs battled through the entire 48 minutes with the Heat. Even when the Spurs fell behind by 11 points in the third quarter, they went on a quick run to be within striking distance of Miami going into the fourth.

Entering crunch time, the Spurs led by 3 points, 99-96. Chris Paul came up with some key plays for the Spurs down stretch, drawing two free throws and making them both, then making a floater with 59 seconds left to tie the game at 103. On the next Miami possessions, the Heat missed three straight jumpers, but they kept collecting offensive rebounds. The Spurs finally got a defensive board with 23.8 seconds left. Paul had a chance to give the Spurs the lead, but he missed a 19-foot pull-up jumper with 5.1 seconds left.

The Heat called timeout, and coming out of the timeout, Bam Adebayo (30 points) caught the ball at the top of the arc. Keldon Johnson was guarding the top of the arc and as soon as Bam caught the ball, he drove to his left and went to a pull-up 19-footer that went in at the buzzer over a contesting Keldon and Paul. The Heat narrowly won the game 105-103.

“I thought we scratched and clawed to get back into the game, stay in the game, to give ourselves a chance to win at the end,” said Spurs Acting Head Coach Mitch Johnson after the game. “I thought there were a couple of plays there at the end that the ball just didn’t go our way. I’m sure there are things we’d like to have back, but, I thought we got some good shots.”

“I thought Chris (Paul) had a good look, loved the look and I didn’t think there was an egregious breakdown (defensively),” continued Coach Johnson. “But the last play, give Bam a lot of credit. He hit a lot of jump shots tonight and that was the biggest one. Sometimes you’ve got to tip your cap to the other team.”

“I thought we gave ourselves an opportunity to win the game,” said Harrison Barnes. “Obviously we’ve got to give credit to the Heat, credit to Bam for making that shot, but I thought we had opportunities.”

After the Loss

With the loss, the Spurs fell back to 4 games under .500 at 21-25 (12th out West). They leave the Frost Bank Center with a 13-12 record and they’re now 5-8 against the Eastern Conference. The Heat ended up sweeping San Antonio in the season series.

The close loss dropped the Spurs to 9-11 in crunch time, where they’re now 20th in the NBA.

Up Next

The Spurs will have Sunday off before beginning the annual Rodeo Road Trip in Memphis (32-16, 3rd out West) on Monday. The Spurs won’t be back home in the Frost Bank Center until March 2.

Shot Location Scoring | Spurs Box Score | The Math Game

Here are the 3 items for this postgame edition:

• (1) Spurs player observations

• (2) Fox Watch

• (3) Instant reaction to the Luka Doncic - Anthony Davis blockbuster trade

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(1) Spurs player observations