Spurs’ Big Third Quarter Launches Them Past the Wizards
Photo by Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports
After one thrilling win against the Celtics over the weekend, the Antonio Spurs played yet another exciting game on Monday night by beating the Wizards 116-99.
Washington led for majority of the game until Derrick White caught fire in the third quarter, as the 27-year-old scored 18 points in the quarter alone. He ultimately finished with 24, which is a season high for him so far. It was encouraging to see the entire team play solid basketball for the night, as their competition level was quite consistent and even more improved as the game went on. For a young team such as the Spurs, that’s one good sign, especially since they’re still learning how to stay competitive regardless of their opponent.
With Devin Vassell and Doug McDermott sidelined, it was up to Josh Primo to jump into the game and show everyone what he’s made of. The rookie saw over a dozen minutes of action and didn’t look out of place once as he hit a couple of open shots while playing solid team defense. And to think he’s only 18, but he’s definitely not ready for a full-time position on the court just yet.
Photo by Joe Williams
As stated before, White had 18 points in the third quarter alone, and a lot of that was because of his teammates looking for him to get the shots up. Feeding White the ball has been something the team hasn’t consistently done this season, but hopefully, this game was a sign that the Spurs are becoming more cognizant of finding players who have a good rhythm down.
Now the Wizards aren’t the most threatening team lets’ be honest, but it’s still an impressive sight to see from a team like Washington to come and play and keep up the way that they did. After all, they did have the lead up until that third quarter. For the second consecutive game, the Spurs kept their composure in crunch time and came out victorious. Unlike Saturday night, they didn’t concede a lead and actually continued to build on one another and worked together, and managed to get up half a dozen points at the end of the third quarter—now that’s a basketball team right there!
Every player seemed to be cool, calm, and collective and didn’t let the intensity of the game get to their heads. They knew they had to stay focus to win, which is exactly what happened. It’s only two games, but the Spurs are undoubtedly gaining some type of experience that could prove to be invaluable moving forward in the rest of the season and playoffs.
San Antonio will now have two days off before visiting the Trail Blazers in Portland on Thursday night. Tip-off begins at 9:00 pm CST on KENS-5.
