San Antonio is now seven games under .500 as their playoffs hopes grow slim after Victor Wembanyama’s season-ending injury.
NEW ORLEANS — If the San Antonio Spurs arrived in New Orleans last weekend hoping to get some Rodeo Road Trip momentum going against the lowly Pelicans, they instead leave riding a three-game losing streak and facing dwindling playoff hopes after losing Victor Wembanyama to a season-ending injury last week.
Trey Murphy III scored 24 points, Zion Williamson added 18 and the New Orleans Pelicans completed a two-game home game sweep of the Spurs on Tuesday night, winning the second matchup 109-103. San Antonio had lost to the same team Sunday night, 114-96.
Both games saw the Spurs blowing double-digit leads. The Pelicans overcame a 19-point hole in the first half of Tuesday’s game, despite shooting 7 of 31 from 3-point range for the game.
Yves Missi had 10 points and 11 rebounds, and newly acquired Kelly Olynyk had 12 rebounds, after pulling down 15 rebounds in a 114-96 victory over the Spurs on Sunday night.
Devin Vassell led San Antonio with 20 points, and De’Aaron Fox had 15 points and nine assists. Fox struggled, however, with 6-of-21 shooting and six turnovers, including an up-and-down call with the Spurs trailing 107-103 with 23.4 seconds left.
The Spurs led 35-16 early in the second quarter but New Orleans closed the period on a 33-16 run to cut the Spurs’ lead to 51-49 at the half.
San Antonio is now 3-7 on the Rodeo Road Trip, which doesn’t get any easier. The extended road trip’s last two games come against two playoff contenders in Houston and Memphis.
Takeaways
Spurs: Since being acquired on Feb. 3, Fox has yet to play any of his nine games with the team in San Antonio. Two “home” games against Phoenix and Detroit were played in Austin, Texas. Fox is set to extend that streak to 11 with two more road games this week against Houston and Memphis. Chris Paul became the first player in NBA history to score at least 500 points and dish out 400 assists in 19 different seasons. He finished with 12 points and 10 assists.
Pelicans: Murphy went 3 of 10 on 3-pointers. He twisted his ankle with two minutes left but remained in the game.
Key moment
The Pelicans trailed the entire game until Jordan Hawkins hit a driving layup with 10:19 left, part of a 12-4 run that gave New Orleans a 91-87 lead.
Key stat
New Orleans missed 18 of its first 22 3-point shots, but overcame that poor shooting by dominating points in the paint, 66-44.