What a game in San Antonio! The San Antonio Spurs (43-30) and the Utah Jazz (41-32) don’t give themselves a single centimetre in the extremely tight playoff fight in the Western Conference. Donovan Mitchell saves his team into overtime – then the outstanding LaMarcus Aldridge makes the decision. The Spurs win with 124:120 (BOXSCORE).
With five consecutive victories in the last five years, the SPurs have put themselves in a solid position in the extremely close battle for the last play-off places in the Western Conference. San Antonio has one man to thank for this run: LaMarcus Aldridge.
The 32-year-old is currently in captivating form – this was also felt by Jazz. Already in the first quarter LMA was on fire right from the start! With 17 points in the first round (7/8 FG) he led his team to a meanwhile 11-point lead. Utah did not return until Aldridge sat down on the bench.
The Jazz remained in the game thanks to continuous attacks into the heart of the Spurs Defense, in the second round they even conquered the lead, which, however, only lasted for a short time. When Aldridge came back on the floor after a breather, the Big Man continued exactly where he left off. Nevertheless, the Spurs only entered the cabin with a slight advantage (56:51).
A similar picture emerged after the break: Aldridge simply did what he wanted, but the jazz just couldn’t be shaken off. Although San Antonio set themselves off again in the middle of the fourth section with 9 points, that should not have been it for a long time.
The Jazz fought back with good defense – also against Aldridge – and made it exciting again in the final minutes. Especially Mitchell turned up the volume again in the last two minutes and fought the dominant Aldridge on the other side with all means.
So it was Mitchell again, who sunk an unbelievable three from dribbling 3.6 seconds before the siren and thus made up for the match. The last attack of the Spurs ended unsuccessfully – it went into overtime!
Also in extra time it remained very exciting. The Spurs and Jazz fought a duel at an extremely high level – which Aldridge finally decided in favour of the hosts. After an offensive rebound, he brought his colours to the front about 30 seconds before the end with 122:119. Before Mitchell could equalize by three again a few seconds before the end, the Spurs decided to commit a foul.
The attempt to deliberately miss the second free throw and get the offensive rebound failed and so the Spurs brought home the victory from the Charity Stripe. Aldridge ended the game with a career high of 45 points. LMA pocketed 19 of his 27 throws from the field and collected 9 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Furthermore, Patty Mills (25 points, 8/11 FG), Manu Ginobili (18) or Rudy Gay (15) were also convincing with strong performances. On the other hand, Mitchell became the top scorer after a mixed start with 35 points (14/35 FG). Derrick Favors contributed 22 points, Ricky Rubio scored 20 points and 8 assists.
After their sixth victory in a row, the Spurs now have two more victories on their account than Utah Jazz, who are still in eighth place. They are particularly afraid of the Denver Nuggets (40-33) in ninth place in the Western Conference.
San Antonio Spurs (43-30) vs. Utah Jazz (41-32) 124:120 OT (BOXSCORE)
LaMarcus Aldrige. It wasn’t long before it became clear that this would be a good evening for Aldridge. The Big Man started the game with 17 points in the first quarter, and 28 points at half-time. LMA dominated mainly from the high post. With his safe midrange jumper or strong moves towards the basket he presented the Jazz-Defense with enormous problems.
The Bank of Jazz. Actually, this game doesn’t deserve a flop. However, after a good start to the game, the guests’ reservists remained rather pale. In the fourth quarter they only managed 2 points – so San Antonio could distance himself a bit in the final section, before the Jazz starters fought their way back.
The Jazz largely dispensed with duplicating LaMarcus Aldridge in the post. Mostly Derrick Favors was on his own to guard LMA, while Rudy Gobert was supposed to protect the basket as help defender – Gobert was not assigned to Aldridge until crunchtime. Against the strong actions (and the throwing luck) of the Spurs superstar from the middle distance, however, the Frenchman could do relatively little.