The Spurs, eliminated from the NBA Cup, look to bounce back against the Bulls

The San Antonio Spurs will look to regain their reputation when they host the Chicago Bulls on Thursday in a crossover game.

It’s the only time the teams will compete this year in the Alamo City, where the Spurs scored two goals against Chicago.

The Spurs return home after a 107-93 loss at Phoenix on Monday, the second in three games following a four-game winning streak.

Devin Vassell had a team-high 25 points off the bench and Victor Wembanyama had 15 points and 13 rebounds. Stephon Castle had 16 points, Jeremy Sochan had 14 and Keldon Johnson had 10 for San Antonio.

The loss knocked the Spurs out of the NBA Cup as they shot 35 percent from the floor and 18.2 percent (8 of 44) from beyond the arc. Wembanyama was scoreless in the first half and went just 1 of 9 on 3 shots.

San Antonio’s defense did its part, limiting the Suns to 48.7 percent from the field.

“The defensive effort was really good,” said Spurs assistant coach Mitch Johnson. “But we turned the ball over and missed a lot of shots. Those two things really took a lot of pressure off your defense, and I thought it held up really well.”

San Antonio trailed by 13 at the half but cut the deficit to two with 7 1/2 minutes to play in the third quarter. There were only four to go in the final quarter but Phoenix went on a 7-0 run to open the quarter and held the lead there.

Chicago heads south to San Antonio following a 128-102 victory over Brooklyn on Monday to snap a two-game sweep. Josh Giddey recorded his first triple-double of the season with 20 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists.

Nikola Vucevic added 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulls, rookie Matas Buzelis scored 20 points, Zach LaVine had 18 points, Ayo Dosunmu had 16 and Talen Horton-Tucker scored 11 points for Chicago.

“It was cool,” Giddey said of his triple-double. “The guys made my job easy. We played the right way. I was able to throw the ball forward. The guys shot, they got to the rim. It’s a team effort. We did it by committee, and it should be like that every night. .”

The Bulls shot 52.2 percent from the field and 34 percent from beyond the arc while holding big advantages in rebounds (54-41), fastbreak points (32-15) and points in the paint (62-40).

The 20-year-old Buzelis played a pivotal role for the team, logging at least 17 minutes in four consecutive games off the bench for the first time. He received high praise from Chicago coach Billy Donovan for his stickiness.

“My favorite thing about Buzelis is that he keeps coming back and he understands that he is learning something from this program,” said Donovan. “When he does something, he tries to learn from it and move forward. This does not stop him from his strength and the way he plays.”

–Field Level Media