Houston Rockets guard Russell Westbrook takes the ball into the hands of San Antonio Spurs striker DeMar DeRozan during the first half of an NBA basketball game on Tuesday.
With Phoenix defeating Dallas and Memphis defeating Milwaukee in early afternoon games in Orlando on Thursday, he made Spurs’ upcoming game against Utah questionable.
Spurs were eliminated from the Western Conference playoff match, with lottery tickets for the first time since 1996-97. That breaks a series of 22 consecutive playoff trips, tied to the Syracuse Nationals / Philadelphia 76ers – who matched the feat from 1950 to 1971 – for the longest league history.
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In his pre-match Zoom interview with Orlando reporters, Spurs manager Gregg Popovich said he was pleased with the team’s 5-2 start in the restart schedule, whether or not it was a berth. post-season.
“This was a victory,” Popovich said. Winning tonight would be icing on the cake. Of course, it still doesn’t mean that we’re here because other people have to help us too. But at this point, it was a huge success for our team and our young players, the development we talked about at the beginning. So we are very happy with what happened here. “
Earlier in the day, the Spurs needed myriads of dominoes to fall to keep their season alive. A win over the Jazz, combined with two-for-three defeats to Memphis, Phoenix and Portland, would have propelled the Spurs into a play-in match.
Instead, Memphis spanked Milwaukee 119-106 to secure at least a spot in the play-in, while Phoenix completed an 8-0 Cinderella run with a 128-102 win over Dallas. That leaves the Suns needing Brooklyn to beat Portland later tonight to beat their own play-in ticket.
With the Grizzlies and Suns going wild early, the Spurs knew before the tip against Utah they had been eliminated.
Upon returning from Orlando, the Spurs’ attention will be on the lottery. The franchise came out pretty well on their last journey, winning Tim Duncan with the # 1 pick overall.
Spurs will participate in this season’s draft lottery, ranked 11th, with a 2% chance in the best selection.
