San Antonio had 8 turnovers and just 4 made baskets in the final quarter, and fell to 9-20 on the season.
SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Spurs battled the Miami Heat on Saturday afternoon in Mexico City, but fell apart in the fourth quarter and lost 111-101.
The Spurs got off to a bit of a slow start, falling behind 20-9 in the early going. Devin Vassell scored 7 of those 9 himself.
Then Keldon Johnson got going. First he hit a three, then made two trips to the line, then another three for a personal 10-0 run.
Doug McDermott drilled a pair of triples to help make it 19 unanswered for the Spurs as they surged into the lead.
Miami responded with a 9-0 run to take the lead back. Jakob Poeltl made his return after not playing since late November, and got on the board with a big dunk, a free throw and a little push shot.
Rookie Malaki Branham knocked down a triple and did a good job on the defensive end of the floor. A cutting Keldon finished with the left off a feed from Zach Collins, and then Jeremy Sochan posted and bounced it to Keita Bates-Diop for an easy layup. Collins blocked a shot, and Sochan drove and found him inside for a layup.
Tre Jones found Collins for three, then Jones got it to Keldon for his third long-range make of the first half. Johnson got free throws again to raise his scoring total to 17.
Collins got free throws, then another block, then Jones passed it up the court for his sixth assist of the half. It went to Devin Vassell, who attacked Bam Adebayo at the rim in transition and somehow scored on a circus finish.
San Antonio led 55-52 at the break, hitting 8-16 from three and assisting on 17 of their 18 made baskets.
There was a brief delay at halftime after the lights went off.
KBD stole a pass and took it the other way before dumping it off to Vassell for a dunk.
Jones drove in for a nifty layup, then dished it to Keldon for a bucket, then got it up court to KBD for a dunk.
Poeltl scored inside, then Vassell got to the line for three free throws. Pop called time after back-to-back buckets by Tyler Herro cut San Antonio’s lead to just one.
Keldon hit a technical free throw, then finished a transition finger roll off another assist from Tre. Zach Collins drove in for a score, then got it to Malaki Branham for a layup.
Miami ripped off a 7-0 run to take the lead back. Keldon drove and found Sochan for a cutting dunk.
Sochan grabbed a board, drove hard from end to end, and dished it to Branham for a corner three. KBD swung it to an open Branham, who again connected from deep. Vassell drove and leapt through a hard foul by Herro, hitting the free throws to make it 84-80 Spurs heading to the fourth.
Miami took a 90-86 lead after a sloppy start to the fourth on both ends for San Antonio. Tre Jones calmed things down with some free throws, but the Heat continued to extend.
Miami clamped up and got everything they wanted as San Antonio coughed it up over and over. Miami made ten baskets in the first half of the fourth quarter, and the Spurs made just one. The Heat pushed their lead to 13 and Pop called time again.
San Antonio had 4 made baskets and 8 turnovers in the final quarter.
KBD helped cut it to 10, but that was all. San Antonio lost in Mexico City 111-101, falling to 9-20 on the season.
PREVIOUS GAME
The Spurs are coming off a 128-112 home loss versus the Trail Blazers.
Keldon Johnson had 25 points and seven rebounds to lead the team while Doug McDermott added 14 points. Tre Jones finished with 10 points and six assists while Devin Vassell recorded 13 points off the bench.
“Mostly the story of the game is that we spotted them a half and then we came to play,” Gregg Popovich said. “This first half I thought we were pretty dead at both ends of the floor. Not a lot of ‘oomph’ and ‘juice’ and that sort of thing. But coming out of the second half we did a good job. You can’t spot a team like that who can score they way they do a half, that’s for sure.”
INJURY REPORT
HOW TO WATCH
The Spurs-Heat game from Mexico City will be aired on KENS 5 TV.
THE UNIFORMS
The Spurs will be in their Association Edition jerseys today.
LOCKED ON SPURS PREVIEWS SPURS-HEAT GAME
FIVE THINGS TO WATCH
1. The Spurs are averaging 108.5 points per game in the month of December.
2. The Heat is on a three-game road win streak.
3. The Heat have been out-rebounded in their last two games.
4. The Heat are 4-12 when trailing after the third period this season.
5. The Spurs’ opponents are averaging 120.4 points per game through 28 games played.
Stay here at KENS 5 throughout the season for complete Spurs coverage.
Twitter: @KENS5, @JeffGSpursKENS5