San Antonio Spurs: Season Opener Brings First Win, Shows Promise

In game one of the 82-game regular season, the San Antonio Spurs looked fresh, energetic and poised to finish what they fell short of in June.

Yes, there’s still more than half a year before getting to the point, but it’s just great to see San Antonio basketball again.

They pulled off a 101-94 victory against the Memphis Grizzlies and the points balanced out well among the players. Boris Diaw and Kawhi Leonard led the way with 14 points each and four other Spurs also scored in double figures.

After the first quarter, Memphis led by two, but the Spurs shut down the Grizzlies in the second quarter and outscored them 30-7. The Grizzlies slowly clawed away at the lead in the second half, but never had the chance to take the lead.

Marco Belinelli and Jeff Ayres made their debuts as Spurs and while they didn’t stuff the stat sheets, they played to their strengths, didn’t force any shots and kept the motion going. Manu Ginobili had a solid opener with 12 points, four rebounds, five assists and two steals on 6-for-9 shooting from the field.

Patty Mills followed up his hard work over the summer and preseason with quite a mark in his season debut. (NBA.com photo)

Patty Mills won the backup point guard position after his impressive preseason and continued his hot shooting. He was 4-for-4 from the field and 3-for-3 from 3-point range, including a four-point play, totaling 12 points in less than 17 minutes.

The biggest downside to this game is that Tim Duncan left in the third quarter due to a chest contusion and didn’t come back. While this isn’t a long-term injury, he may miss Friday’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers.

In other news outside of the game, the Spurs exercised the contract options on Leonard and Cory Joseph, meaning they will be under contract until the end of the 2014-15 season. It appears that while the Spurs have gone with Mills as the backup point guard currently, Joseph still has a chance to reclaim the spot he held last season.

Also, it appears that Nando De Colo is in the dog house. He’s fallen hard in his short career, from being named the backup point guard last season to losing his spot in the rotation, to trotting out to the bench in his suit now. Albeit one game into his sophomore season, Nando’s future with the Spurs doesn’t look so promising right now.

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