Game 49: Bridges' three sinks Spurs' 19-point comeback attempt against Hornets
(1) Castle's career high scoring night (2) Fox in the clutch (3) Wemby's rim protection (4) Second chance points and 3s for Hornets (5) The play-in push
With 8.4 seconds left in Friday’s San Antonio Spurs game in Charlotte against the Hornets, De’Aaron Fox (22 points) made a pull-up mid-range jumper from 18-feet over Moussa Diabate. On the next possession for the Hornets, LaMelo Ball (24 points) was able to drive inside against Jeremy Sochan and draw in the Spurs’ defense. Once the Spurs’ defense collapsed inside, Ball kicked out to a wide open Miles Bridges (25 points) standing in the corner. Bridges hit the clutch three to give the Hornets a 1-point lead with 1.4 seconds left, and the Spurs called timeout.
Coming out of the timeout, the Spurs got the ball to Fox once more, and he was able to take and make the three, but, after replay review, the replay showed the ball was still in Fox’s hand when the buzzer went off and so his game winner was taken away. The Hornets held on to upset the Spurs by 1 point.
“It was the start, from the very first possession, they were more physical and set a tone with force and it took us a while to get into the game and they made some shots,” said Spurs Acting Head Coach Mitch Johnson after the game. “But it was definitely just the physicality and the force and whether it was comfortable, confident, a combination of whatever, it’s the NBA.”
“I feel like we kind of underestimated them coming out and they jumped out on us,” said Stephon Castle postgame. “We had to fight back into the game.”
By falling behind by 19 points early in the game, the Spurs have now trailed by 15 points or more in 49% of their games this season. Mounting a 15-point comeback has been a challenge, with the team being 4-20 when behind by 15 points.
Here are the 5 items for this postgame edition:
(1) Castle’s career high scoring night
(2) Fox in the clutch
(3) Wemby’s rim protection
(4) Second chance points and threes for Hornets
(5) The play-in push
(1) Castle’s career high scoring night
The rook finished with his first 30-point game of his young career, ending the night with 33 points on 15 shots (67% FG), 4 rebounds, and 2 assists to 4 turnovers, in 31 minutes off the bench.
The Hornets had no answer for his constant rim attacks. If he wasn’t finishing layups from the dunk/layup range, he was getting himself to the free throw line. He led the Spurs with 12 points from dunk/layup range, and also in foul line visits, going 10-of-11 from the free throw line.
Castle got going in the opening quarter by checking into the game and scoring 8 points. He finished an alley-oop dunk off a Sochan pass in the open court, got by Taj Gibson for a floater, and then drew free throws on Seth Curry and Gibson.
When on the floor with Ball, Castle was defending him. In the first half, Castle was running around screens to stick with Ball, and at times, Ball had trouble getting away from Castle. In the second half, when Castle was guarding Ball, the Hornets went to more pick-and-roll action to get Castle switched onto someone else, so Ball could operate.
Castle scored 8 more points in the second quarter, by continuing to drive inside, but also, sinking two threes with the Hornets leaving him wide open. In the fourth, Castle was key to the Spurs mounting their attempted comeback. He continued to drive inside against different Hornets defenders and hit a wide open three. In crunch time, he came up with a key defensive play, getting a deflection on one of Ball’s passes and then finishing a layup on the other end while being fouled. He did make one crucial mistake on an offensive possession in crunch time, picking the wrong time to try to throw an alley-oop to Wemby that was picked off.
The fact that Castle scored his new season high while coming off the bench was good sign that he’s learning to maintain the level of aggression he usually plays with when he’s a starter. The 10 free throws he made were also a new career high for him.
“I thought he was aggressive,” said Coach Johnson of Castle. “I thought he tried to play downhill, did a good job of allowing the game to come to him in terms of playing off the ball, attacking when in space, catch-and-shoot in rhythm when it was there as well. Obviously the point total reflects that.”
“I would just say we have a lot of shooters in that unit, so it opens the floor up a lot,” said Castle of being able to attack off the bench. “We usually go no big in that unit, so we play 1 through 5, play really fast, and I feel like I strive in transition. So, I feel like my teammates were giving me the ball in great spots and allowing me to play my game.”
(2) Fox in the clutch
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