|
 Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was not impressed.
"I thought we were pretty sloppy at both ends," Popovich said,
emphasizing the way the Spurs started the game. "Then we shored it
up and did a better job in the third quarter."
Shored it up?
The Spurs cruised to a 103-83 win over the Grizzlies at FedExForum
as forward Kawhi Leonard made a career-best seven 3-pointers and
scored a game-high 27 points.
When told how Popovich had described their early play as "sloppy,"
Spurs point guard Tony Parker (17 points, seven rebounds and five
assists), smiled. "I would not agree with Pop on that. We were up
nine on Memphis on a back-to-back."
Leonard scored 20 of his points and hit six of his 3-pointers in the
second half. Overall, he shot 9-for-13 from the floor and 7-for-9
from long range. He also grabbed eight rebounds and added three
assists, two steals and a block.
"He rose up over people that were standing in front of him and just
made shots," said Memphis coach Dave Joerger.
Leonard opened the third quarter by hitting consecutive 3-pointers
in transition and San Antonio carried a 17-point lead into the
fourth.
"They gave me two wide open ones in a row and I knocked them down,"
Leonard said. "After that when I got the open look I just wanted to
keep shooting until I missed a ball."
Spurs forward LaMarcus Aldridge contributed 18 points for the Spurs
while center Marc Gasol and point guards Mike Conley and Mario
Chalmers each had 15 points for Memphis.
San Antonio (16-4) entered the game allowing an NBA-low 88.8 points
per game, and it held the opposition to 85 points or fewer for the
10th time.
"It puts a lot of pressure on your possessions," Conley said. "We
didn't make shots when we had our chances, we turned the ball over
too many times. And give them a lot of credit for that. We have to
be better if we want to compete against teams like the Spurs playing
at a high level."
Memphis (11-9) trailed by as many as 23 points in the fourth quarter
and never drew closer than 14 points in the final frame.
Thursday's beatdown continued a trend of the Grizzlies struggling
against the league's best teams. This was their second double-digit
loss to the Spurs, they lost by 50 and 16 to Golden State, by 30 to
Cleveland, and by 15 to Atlanta.
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"They played too free for the talent they have," Gasol said of how
the Spurs operated on offense, but also rejecting the notion the
Grizzlies are concerned about their performance against the league's
top teams. "We get demoralized now, we're in trouble. You've got to
work and realize you're good, but you're not elite yet."
The Spurs' shooting was elite as they hit 50 percent from the field
(40-for-80) and 55.6 percent from 3-point range (10-for-18). Memphis
shot 37.5 percent from the floor (30-for-80) and 12.5 percent from
deep (2-for-16). The Spurs outrebounded the Grizzlies 48-37.
Guard Manu Ginobili contributed 13 points and four assists for San
Antonio. Center Tim Duncan had 10 rebounds to go along with six
points, five assists and three blocks.
Memphis got 10 points from forward Jeff Green and nine points and
six rebounds from power forward Zach Randolph.
The Spurs are solidly in the No. 2 position in the Western
Conference, but there remains a gap to No. 1 and the Golden State
Warriors. Which is one reason Popovich knows improvements still must
be made.
"Other than Golden State, the rest of us don't play well for 48
minutes," he said. "That's what we're all trying to do."
NOTES: Memphis C Marc Gasol scored a career-high 38 points with a
season-high 13 rebounds in the team's 113-104 win over New Orleans
on Tuesday. Gasol was 16-for-16 from the free-throw line. According
to Elias Sports Bureau, Gasol became just the third player over the
last seven seasons (since 2009-10) to record at least 30 points and
10 rebounds while making all of his free throws (minimum of 15
attempts). ... Rookie Spurs G/F Jonathon Simmons had eight points
and two assists off the bench against Milwaukee on Wednesday.
"Jonathon has come a very long way in understanding that we don't
need to know how great he might be, we just need him to be solid,"
said San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich. Simmons scored three points
Thursday. ... The Spurs have the best record of any NBA team against
Memphis since the start of the 2006-07 season (28-10).
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