During the Tuesday night NBA slate, the San Antonio Spurs beat the Orlando Magic 132-114 while hitting 22 3-pointers and dishing out 39 assists. Jeremy Sochan had an impressive performance, recording 29 points and 11 rebounds.
“That’s kind of how we’ve got to play,” Spurs guard Devin Vassell said. “That’s really the Spurs way, moving the ball and getting a great shot. That’s what we did tonight.”
In addition to his 25 points and six rebounds, Zach Collins had five assists for San Antonio. The Spurs have won four of their seven previous outings.
Paolo Banchero scored 27 points for Orlando, while Wendell Carter Jr. contributed 16 points. A berth in the postseason play-in tournament remains out of reach for the Magic after losing five of their last seven games. Orlando trails the Washington Wizards in the Eastern Conference standings for 10th by four games.
“It’s a definite tough loss,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “You really do have to tip your hat to San Antonio. They played their tails off and they brought it to us. This one stings. This one hurts because it’s one that we let get away from us. But you have to be able to move on to the next game and know what you can improve on and tighten up our defense.”
Keldon Johnson, Malaki Branham, Tre Jones, and Rome Langford were also unavailable for the Spurs, as Sochan returned from a one-game absence. San Antonio set a franchise record for made 3s in a single-game, helping to overcome being shorthanded.
“If you make 22 3s, you are going to have a pretty damn good night,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “That’s just the way the rules are. We don’t do it very often, but we did it tonight. And it was fun to watch. More importantly, we had 39 assists, which is really fantastic. All in all, it was a good night for the boys.”
The Spurs had a prolific offensive outing as they shot 57 percent from the field and 22 for 41 from 3-point range. The Magic were consistently a step behind in their defensive execution, continuing to show a need for improvement.
“We were just late on a lot of our rotations,” Banchero said. “I think they did a great job moving the ball, not being stagnant. We were always just a step behind on the defensive end. They were making everything, especially from 3.”
There were consecutive alley-oop passes made by Sandro Mamukelashvili to Sochan. With 2:38 left in the first half, Sochan scored a one-handed dunk to give the Spurs a 62-54 lead. Within 36 seconds, they combined for another alley-oop dunk.
As a result of two surgery on his left foot and another surgery to repair a torn left labrum, Collins missed all of 2021 and has played in just 29 games in his last three seasons. He has put together a career revival and shows his rare skill-set, going a perfect 3 of 3 from deep.
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