Devin Vassell hit a career high eight 3-points on the way to a career pile of 37 points, and the host San Antonio Spurs was at its best during the second half in a victory 127-113 over the sinking Brooklyn networks on Wednesday.
The spurs led from five points at half -time but took responsibility during the third quarter and stretched their lead to 23 with three minutes to play before they went to the fourth up with 19. Brooklyn never came closer than 12 the rest of the way when San Antonio won for the second time in the last three races.
Stephon Castle added 17 points for Spurs while Keldon Johnson and De’aaron Fox added 15 each, Bismack Biyombo collected 13 points and 14 returns and Chris Paul scored 11 points when San Antonio shot 54.7 percent from the floor. Fox and Paul each pulled out seven of Spurs 37 assists.
Cam Thomas led Brooklyn with 24 points, with Cameron Johnson who scored 17, Jalen Wilson brought 13 and Trendon Watford and D’Angelo Russell hit 12. Nets lost its fifth straight game.
The spurs led 27-19 after Castle’s floating jumper at the mark 2:07 for the first quarter. But Brooklyn gathered behind a couple of free throw and then a bucket from Thomas and hit only 31-25 after 12 minutes of play.
Nets rolled away the first 10 points in the second period, with Watford’s float and 3-pointers, the latter at the 9: 44 mark and granted Brooklyn a 35-31 lead. Russell and Wilson preserved back-to-back 3-points for Brooklyn to drive the margin to 43-35 with 7:43 to play during the quarter.
San Antonio recalled the lead on a three -point game by Vassell with 4:11 left in the quarter and kept the lead for the rest of the first half. Fox’s choral arrangement at the horn set Spurs up 62-57 at the break.
Vassell led San Antonio with 13 points before half time while Keldon Johnson added 11 from the bench and Biyombo had 10 when Spurs shot 54.3 percent at half. Thomas paced the nets with 13 points during the first two quarters.
The spurs dominated the third quarter and stacked its advantage at 91-68 when Vassell poured a 3-point with 3:05 left. San Antonio had a lead of 99-80 into the last quarter.
-Field level media
