As the Spurs resumed their coronavirus-interrupted season Feb. 24 in Oklahoma City, the goal was simply to hold the fort.
Make it through the five games remaining until the All-Star break without capsizing, and call it a win.
After Tuesday’s resounding 119-93 victory over New York at the AT&T Center, which welcomed the return of one rotation player but left three others still unavailable, the Spurs are allowed to at last get greedy.
The Spurs are 2-2 through their first four games of COVID-19 short-handedness, with a chance to make it 3-2 in a rematch with OKC that closes their first-half schedule Thursday.
The Spurs’ two losses during this stretch were tight: They fell at Oklahoma City 102-99 on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Lu Dort. They lost by double digits to Brooklyn on Monday 124-113, but that outcome came in overtime.
It made Tuesday’s effort on the second night of a back-to-back all the more impressive.
A night after taking the NBA’s highest-scoring offense to OT, the Spurs ran the league’s top defense out of the AT&T Center in the second half.
The Spurs outscored the Knicks - who have been remade in coach Tom Thibodeau’s defensive-minded image - by a count of 68-46 after halftime.
They key stretch game in the final 5:03 of the third quarter, which the Spurs closed on a 21-7 run to take a 19-point edge into the fourth.
The game marked the return of Keldon Johnson from health and safety protocols. In his first appearance since a Valentine’s Day win in Charlotte, Johnson logged 11 minutes in the first half and score nine points.
Three other players not yet available after clearing protocols - Rudy Gay, Derrick White and Devin Vassell - joined the team in streets clothes and masks on the bench in the second half.
Coach Gregg Popovich said those players are unlikely to play until after the All-Star break. Still, the Spurs can be heartened help is on the way.
Here are three takeaways from Tuesday’s victory, which improved the Spurs to 1-4 this season on the second night of a back-to-back:
Welcome to the club, Trey Lyles
On a night in which the Spurs scorched the NBA’s top defense for 119 points, it was an unlikely scoring leader guiding the charge.
Lyles finished with 18 points, made 7 of 13 field goals and 4 of 6 from 3-point range.
It was a season high for Lyles, who for long stretches of this season has been out of the Spurs’ rotation.
In notching it, Lyles became the ninth different player to lead the Spurs in scoring this season. That ties the Memphis Grizzlies for the largest number of unique leading scorers.
It has been something of a disappointing season for Lyles through no fault of his own.
He has not played in 16 of the Spurs’ 31 games, but he has seen an increased opportunity as a starter during the team’s coronavirus outbreak.
With nights like Tuesday, Lyles continues to make a case for playing time even when the Spurs begin to get healthy bodies back.
The Spurs out-Thibodeaued the NBA’s best defense
In Monday’s overtime loss to Brooklyn, the Spurs made 15 3-pointers and dished out 30 assists. Normally, that is a sure-fire formula for victory.
It was only the 21st time in club history the Spurs reached both those thresholds in the same game. Monday marked the third time they failed to win under those circumstances.
Tuesday, the Spurs hit those marks again, with 18 made 3-pointers on a season-high 42 attempts and 31 assists.
They chalked up a win in part because their defensive activity was better.
The Spurs were solid defensively against the Nets, holding the NBA’s top scoring team to 108 points in regulation.
Yet the Spurs were able to turn Brooklyn over only five times and pick up only two steals. The Spurs were much more larcenous against New York.
The Knicks committed a manageable 16 turnovers, but 12 of them were live-ball steals from the Spurs.
That the Spurs were only able to transform those miscues into 12 points was testament to their own troubles on the fast break. Still, the Spurs’ increased defensive activity was good to see on the second night of a back-to-back.
DeMar DeRozan was at the center of it all on both ends, picking up 11 assists for the third consecutive game and logging a season-high four steals.
The G-League served Luka Samanic well
The Spurs’ top draft choice in 2019, 21-year-old Luka Samanic hasn’t done much at the NBA level yet.
He spent the majority of his rookie season in the G League, and he was in that circuit’s Orlando, Fla., bubble when COVID-19 struck the Spurs’ roster in February.
The Spurs called Samanic up immediately for depth, and he has provided it.
Tuesday might have marked his best game yet.
Samanic logged a season-best 14 points, grabbed a season-high seven rebounds, made a season-high three 3-pointers and generally looked like an NBA player.
This was also true on the defensive end, where he refused to be bullied by New York All-Star Julius Randle.
Samanic’s best sequence - perhaps as an NBA player - came midway through the third quarter, when he knocked down a 3-pointer to give the Spurs a 10-point lead, then stood his ground and drew an offensive foul from the 6-foot-8, 250-pound Randle.
Heading into Tuesday, Samanic had totaled 19 points in seven NBA appearances this season.
He ended the rout of New York one basket shy of the career high he set against Utah in last season’s finale in the Orlando bubble.
He was tearing up the G-League version of the bubble at the time of his recall, one of only five players to averaging at least 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Samanic has returned to the Spurs a more confident player, and that is paying dividends.
jmcdonald@express-news.net
Twitter:@JMcDonald_SAEN
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