Able to enjoy a rare trip home after playing in Houston on Wednesday, the Spurs had their first face-to-face with Gregg Popovich since his stroke, and he reportedly gave them a classic Pop tongue lashing they seemed to take it to heart. Motivated by their head coach’s words, the Spurs went into Memphis to face a Grizzlies squad that was missing Ja Morant and Desmond Bane but is still always a thorn in their side. The Spurs used a strong first half to build just a big enough cushion to overcome one of their classic turd quarters and held on down the stretch for a surprising win to close out the Rodeo Road Trip.

The first quarter was streaky as the Spurs got out to a quick 5-2 lead, but the Grizzlies responded with an 8-0 run of their own. Mitch Johnson responded by bringing in Jeremy Sochan, whose energy sparked a quick 7-0 Spurs run. The teams continued to trade buckets and the lead before another 7-0 run from the Grizzles briefly gave them a 24-18 lead, but again, the Spurs responded with a 9-0 run themselves and led 31-30 after the first quarter, in no small part thanks to 10-point first quarter on 5-6 shooting from Devin Vassell.

The Spurs had another run in them to start the second quarter, scoring the first 10 points, including threes from Keldon Johnson and Julian Champagine. The run stretched to 17-2 after a timeout to get the lead out to 16, 48-32, forcing Taylor Jenkins to burn his second timeout of the quarter. The ball continued to move for the Spurs on offense, and their effort on defense and on the boards was better than it had been in weeks. They got the lead as high as 22 and led 77-58 at the halftime, marking their highest scoring half of the season.

But as always, the question was could they protect it. The Grizzlies’ effort was unsurprisingly much stronger to start the second half, as they scored the first seven points. Likely knowing about their own struggles with protecting leads, the Spurs were timid on offense, with all their ball movement from the first half gone, and the lead was down to 10 fine minutes into the quarter. The new presumptive favorite for Defensive Player of the Year (now that Victor Wembanyama is ineligible), Jaren Jackson Jr., went back to being the pain he always is in the Spurs’ side on both ends with 18 of his 42 points in the quarter, and the Grizzlies were at their closest since the beginning of the second quarter, down just 99-96 heading into the final frame.

The Spurs were able to expand their lead a bit (although perhaps not as much as hoped) to 114-102 in the first 4+ minutes of the fourth quarter while JJJ sat, the final four of which came off a Chamagnie three and free throw. Jackson Jr. went right back to scoring when he re-entered, but for the most part, the Spurs were able to stay ahead by forcing the issue and getting into the bonus early. Still, the Grizzlies kept inching closer and closer while the Spurs struggled to score when they didn’t get to the line.

JJJ finally tied at 125 apiece, but Zach Edey ran into De’Aaron Fox on a three on the next possession, and he hit all three free throws to get them back up with three with 29 second left. The JJJ curse continued, as he hit in a well contested three that (likely unintentionally) banked in, but the Spurs had the 2023 Clutch Player of the Year on their side, and Fox hit a step back two with 1.9 seconds left. The Grizzlies were out of timeouts and couldn’t advance the ball, and a Santi Aldama prayer from beyond mid-court was short, handing the Spurs the surprise 130-128 win.

Game Notes

• In an interesting adjustment, not long after the start of the game, Mitch Johnson brought in Sochan, and he and Bismack Biyombo essentially swapped roles the rest of the way, with Sochan starting the second half and Biyombo coming off the bench. This was likely an attempt to have a bigger man on Edey, who in the past has barely been able to play against the Spurs because he was no match for Wemby. Despite the rotation swap, Edey was still able to take advantage of the Spurs’ lack of size with 17 points on 7-7 shooting, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks (although it felt like more — now we know how opponents feel around Wemby).
• Two players who have struggled mightily since the All-Star break seem to have found their stride again. Vassell had been coming on in the last couple of games but really broke out tonight, especially in the first half when he had 13 of his 20 points. The other was Stephon Castle, whom Mitch Johnson had admitted was in the dog house for poor effort and decision-making. He broke out a bit in garbage time in Houston but truly looked like his old self again tonight, with a team-high 24 points and 7 assists to just 1 turnover while relentlessly and efficiently attacking the rim.
• Video review is out of hand. The Spurs challenged an out-of-bounds call in the first quarter where Keldon Johnson stripped the ball from GG Jackson, and the ball went out off his thigh. It was pretty obvious, but the review seemingly took forever. Apparently they were seeing if Johnson had committed a foul to dislodge the ball, and after an unusually long review, official Tyler Ford gave a long-winded explanation about every ounce of contact, just to say there was no foul and the ball was off Jackson, so it was Spurs ball. It just shouldn’t take this long.

Play of the Game

If we’re being really honest, it should go to Fox’s game winner, but this Castle fake and dunk in the first half stuck with me all night and really seemed to confirm that he is back.

Up next: Sunday vs. Oklahoma City Thunder

The Spurs finally return home for the first time in 29 days, meaning this will be De’Aaron Fox’s San Antonio debut. It won’t be an easy game, but who knows? Maybe those two factors will work in their favor. Tip-off will be at 6:00 PM CT on ESPN and FanDuel Sports.