The San Antonio Spurs (7-2) defeated the Philadelphia 76ers (0-10) 92-83 on Saturday.
This was a mismatch on paper and that ended up being the case on Saturday. The Spurs dominated in nearly every category, as they recorded more rebounds, assists, blocks and steals than the Sixers. It was a relatively clean game played all-around though, as there were only 28 combined turnovers between both teams. It was a much closer game than expected and the credit has to go to this winless Sixers team to put in a strong effort night-after-night despite losing every single game. Luckily for Philadelphia, this will be the only time they'll have to face the Spurs in San Antonio this season.
This was probably the best performance from the Sixers all year, despite in a losing effort. They not only shot better than the Spurs, but nearly split the turnover battle (15-13). They were led once again by rookie Jahlil Okafor, who tallied 21 points and 12 rebounds in the loss. They also got some nice contributions off the bench, as all five players off the bench had at least five points and two rebounds. It's a rough time in Philadelphia right now, but they have to look at performances like these as victories and take them with a grain of salt. They'll look to build off this loss when they host the Dallas Mavericks on Monday.
Coach Greg Popovich is probably not very happy with this performance, but he'll take the win. The Spurs came in as 16-point favorites and never really seemed close to covering that spread. San Antonio was led by LaMarcus Aldridge, who tallied 17 points and 19 rebounds in his best game in a Spurs uniform. Tim Duncan recorded a season-high 15 points and blocked five shots as well in the victory. He has now matched or scored more in every preceding game this season and that's likely a case of the 39-year-old getting his legs underneath him. This is obviously a dangerous team and a disappointing win like this just shows how good they are. The Spurs next game will be on Monday against the Portland Trail Blazers,
