San Antone: Seeking Nine Rings

Avery Bradley is shining brightly as of late. Avery Bradley scored 34 points against 30 points from "Sweet" Lou Williams and the Los Angeles Clippers, as his team won 129-126 after a late run by the Clips. Bradley is becoming a staple for the Spurs, the likes of former Spur Danny Green and showing off his athleticism in ways that rival the departed Jeremy Lamb (still on the Clippers). Avery had three steals in this home victory also. Brandon Ingram scored 23 points, and Dejounte Murray had 18 points with 8 assists and 3 steals, as the Spurs continued to establish defensive unity and scoring efficiency on the court. T.J. Warren dropped 18 points for good measure, combining with Ingram for four steals on the night. "I just give my heart to each game, focus on my defensive match-up, do everything I can to help us win games. That's who I am. If it means diving on the floor, or smothering a guy full court in the first quarter of the game, that's...my calling,&

Coach Pop has reason to be happy so far this season. The San Antonio Spurs are now 24-6 on the season, sporting the league's best win/loss record, having rattled off victories against Phoenix, Los Angeles & Chicago, remaining 15-1 at the AT&T Center. "We're playing with great heart out there on the court. I'm really proud of our guys, especially T.J., J.R. and even Z-Bo. They've embraced our culture and what we stand for. It's been just wonderful," Coach Popovich spoke after the Spurs capped a five-game win streak in a staggering blowout victory against Zach LaVine & the Chicago Bulls. "Avery was great, tenacious as ever. He and Murray--boy, I'll tell ya--they are an absolute joy to watch on the defensive end," Pop said having watched Bradley hound LaVine into a 10-PT outing (4/9, 3 turnovers). The Spurs put on arguably their best performance of the season, shooting 61% overall and 15-29 from 3PT territory. Patty Mills had a

Donovan Mitchell had a great game. The Spurs controlled the Jazz in the first half, as their marksmenship was on-point along with their trademark defense, the lead growing to ten points. Utah fought back due to tremendous effort by bright prospect Donovan Mitchell (43 points, 17/29, 7 assists) and Kyle Korver (4/5 3PT, 12 points). They cut the lead evenly at the half, then finally took a brief advantage. Then the fourth quarter began and the Spurs fired away, again. Big man Dragan Bender looked amazing tonight with 16 points, 6 rebounds & five blocks, splashing in two 3PT bombs on a 7/11 night. Top scoring honors for the Spurs became a friendly exchange between Brandon Ingram (31 points, 13/19) and Patty Mills, whose recent scoring drought ended dramatically tonight (32 points, 2 steals, 6/8 3PT). T.J. Warren had 14 points and the block of the game on Mitchell, as the ball whipped up court to Ingram for the jam. Dejounte Murray scored 13 points with 7 assists, spearheading

The Lakers and Spurs go 2-2 this season. Touching down in Los Angeles, the Spurs fell short in Tinseltown after failing to make some good opportunity shots in crunch time. Both teams shot 50%, with San Antone not able to recover fully after a 29-20 first quarter, especially once the Lakers took the 2nd Quarter 31-22. To their credit, the Spurs fought back to win the 3rd Quarter 36-32, but the Lakers never began to struggle to score, winning 105-124 as the Spurs made only five 3PTers. Kawhi Leonard tormented his old team with 6 steals, 6 assists, 6 rebounds and 25 points, going 11/20. Lonzo Ball dropped 24 points with 6 assists, 1 steal & 1 block. LeBron James had just 16 points, but nabbed 4 steals. Kyle Kuzma had 12 points and JaVale McGee had 10 points with 6 rebounds. For the Spurs, newly acquired big-man project Dragan Bender impressed with 21 points, swatting 4 blocks with 1 steal on 7/7 shooting, including a 3PTer in transition. Brandon Ingram went 7/17, but managed 1

Rubio's crew came up just short in this one. T.J. Warren made his first shot as a Spur, a three-pointer on the wing on a slick pass from Joakim Noah, eager to take on the Spurs' fierce foe in the Utah Jazz as this game soon came down to the wire in Texas. For his effort, Warren finished with 24 points with 2 steals & 2 blocks (9/14). Behind him, Ingram solidly dropped 21 points (9/16) with 1 block. Patty Mills scored 18 points with 4 assists & 2 steals, despite 1/5 from deep. Dejounte Murray chipped in 13 points, 9 assists with 1 steal & 1 block. J.R. Smith dropped 10 on Utah in his Spurs debut and Iman Shumpert scored nine. Avery Bradley & Skal Labissiere combined for 16 points; Bradley hit the game-winning layup in transition under heavy defensive pressure. In the narrow defeat, Derrick Favors had 24 points and 9 rebounds. Donovan Mitchell scored 22 points with 9 assists, showing another dimension to his game. Grayson Allen had 21 points, hitting two 3

Dame was anything but tame in this game tonight! Brandon Ingram had his chance to end this battle in regulation, but his shot fell short and OverTime emerged on the horizon. The Blazers nearly stole it then, were it not for a tough 3PTer in transition by Avery Bradley and his making of subsequent free throws. All this was just enough as CJ McCollum missed at the buzzer, unable to redeem a tremendous showing by his comrade Damian Lillard. Portland's star scorer dropped 55 points on the Spurs in this game, with 7 rebounds and 9 assists on 22/39 (11-16 FT). Lillard was unable to connect from the perimeter, however, as the Blazers fall to 10-13 on the season. For San Antonio, Ingram had 30 points (13/20, 3/6 3PT) with 4 steals and 2 blocks. Bradley scored 23 with 3 steals of his own, going 9/16 (2/5 3PT). Dejounte Murray notched 20 points with 6 assists, but went 8/21. Rudy Gay scored 18 points with 3 blocks. Patty Mills scored eleven, as Kyle O'Quinn had 9 points with 7 reb