Keldon Johnson’s rebound and layin in the final seconds handed the Spurs a hard-fought...
San Antonio Spurs head coach Greg Popovich talks with his team during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco, Sunday, March 20, 2022.SAN FRANCISCO — Keldon Johnson scored with three-tenths of a second left after grabbing a rebound following a missed free throw to lift the Spurs to a 110-108 win over Golden State on Sunday night.
The win improved the Spurs to 28-44 and kept them in the race for the 10th seed in the Western Conference and the final play-in spot. They came into the game determined to make amends for Friday’s 33-point home loss to New Orleans, which is 30-41 and tied for 10th with the Los Angles Lakers. Josh Richardson, who missed Friday’s game with a calf injury, led the Spurs with 25 points on 8-of-12 shooting. Murray finished with 19 on an inefficient 8 of 24 from the field.
Here are three takeaways from the Spurs’ first win in 19 tries when trailing after three quarters on the road:Murray suffered through a rough shooting night, but he came up big in crunch time with a 10-foot floater that ended a 4½-minute scoring drought and gave the Spurs a 103-101 lead with 2:31 left. He also set up Richardson’s 3-pointer that provided the Spurs with a 107-105 advantage with 64 seconds remaining.
The seventh-year pro provides so many hustle plays that give his teammates energy and is a steadying hand when things are going south. Logging 12 minutes off the bench, Collins went into the break with 11 points on 4 of 5 from the floor. He failed to score in the second half, but it was an impressive showing after Poeltl got into foul trouble.