Spurs Lose To Bulls 95-91 After Winning First 13 Road Games

Dwyane Wade scored 20 points and the Chicago Bulls gave the San Antonio Spurs their first road loss on Thursday night, a 95-91 defeat in Chicago.

Spurs Lose To Bulls 95-91 After Winning First 13 Road Games

What seemed to bother the Spurs more than dropping their first road game of the season after a 13-0 start, however, was their very slow start on Thursday.

San Antonio fell one win shy of matching the NBA’s best road start set by the Golden State Warriors last season. The Spurs trimmed an 18-point deficit midway through the third quarter to four in the final minutes, only to lose the contest.

”Streaks are a good sign when they’re positive and they’re a bad sign when they’re negative, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t give you anything else,” said Pau Gasol, the former Bull.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich criticized his team for not putting in enough effort.

“I don’t remember playing tonight. No Knute Rockne speeches. It’s your job. If you’re a plumber and you don’t do your job, you don’t get any work,” Popovich said. “I don’t think a plumber needs a pep talk. A doctor botches operations, and he’s not a doctor anymore. If you’re a basketball player, you come ready. It’s called maturity. It’s your job.”

San Antonio only shot 40 percent in the game. Perhaps the team is still adjusting to no longer having Tim Duncan, who retired during the offseason, or to the set of new players complementing Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge.

“We played 24 minutes again, as we have for about the last 10 games,” Popovich added. “We go through the motions in the first half. I think we shot one free throw in the first half. We shot four or so the second half.

“That’s the disappointing part: We’re not a very consistent team, and we haven’t learned as a group that the game is 48 minutes. We also have some people playing very poorly.”You have to participate in your own recovery. Some players have to play better.”

This marks the second time this season Popovich has overtly lambasted his team’s play. Following a 96-91 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Nov. 21, the coach said his team’s performance was “pathetic,” and that the Mavericks deserved to win the game.

Leonard led the Spurs with 24 points, and Patty Mills added 16 points, sinking 4 of 6 three-pointers. Gasol contributed 13 points and 10 rebounds in his first game in Chicago since signing with San Antonio over the summer.

The Spurs’ previous loss came last season, when Oklahoma City eliminated them in the Western Conference semifinals.

 Jimmy Butler scored all of his 13 points for Chicago in the second half. Rajon Rondo added 12 points, nine assists and 10 rebounds. The Bulls got the win after losing three straight and six of nine.

 The Bulls have defeated two of the NBA’s top teams in the past week: the Spurs and the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers. However, they have also recently lost to Dallas, Denver and Detroit.

”It’s a long season,” Wade said. ”We have time to fix it. We could play with good teams in this league home or road, but we still have time to fix that. As long as we understand what we need to do, what we have 60 games left, whatever it is, we have a lot of games to fix that so hopefully we can.”

The Spurs next host the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday night, when the Bulls host the Miami Heat.

CHICAGO, IL – DECEMBER 08: Dwyane Wade #3 of the Chicago Bulls tries to get off a shot after being fouled by Dewayne Dedmon #3 of the San Antonio Spurs at the United Center on December 8, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)