Spurs rally fail in Summer League opener against Timberwolves



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The Spurs trotted to their first summer Championship game in Las Vegas with a solid starting 5, filled with an abundance of talent:

PG: Tre Jones

SG: Josh Primo

SF: Devin Vassell

PF: Daquan Jeffries

C: Nate Renfro

Across the field, young Spurs faced a tough and aggressive Minnesota Timberwolves side with players including Jaden McDaniels, Jaylen Nowell and Nathan Knight.

Spurs got off to a good start with Vassell hitting the game’s first bucket from downtown. Halfway through the 1st, the game was tied at 9 apiece before the T’Wolves started an 8-0 run to put themselves in a position of command. This year’s second-round pick Joe Wieskamp came off the bench and hit his first three of the night before a three-beating buzzer by Spur Malik Newman reduced the lead to two in between; 22-20.

The second started with a nice assist from Tre Jones in transition to a cutting Jeffries, who finished well. Spurs 12th pick Josh Primo got his first bucket of the game early in the second after a small shot jumped on a spinning motion. Two possessions later, Primo added to his goal tally by hitting a three. The rest of the quarter, sadly, was entirely in Minnesota as they rushed to a 14-point lead before Spurs reduced it to 11 at the half-time break.

Spurs got the response they needed after the break as they started an 11-0 run to narrow the lead. The T’Wolves weren’t going to back down as they responded with a 7-0 streak. The Spurs went on to get high energy buckets as Jeffries had a massive dunk handed over before a steal from Vassell and a breakaway layup put Spurs back into the contest. Towards the end of the 3rd period, Tre Jones started to take control as he took advantage of change after change to score, having 7 points in a row for the Silver & Black. Wolves were still leading 67-64 before the 4th.

Vassell started the 4th strong as he had 4 points to tie the game before getting fouled on a three-point shot that ultimately led San Antonio to take the lead. Both teams went bucket-for-bucket for much of the 4th before a Jefferies double-clutch jumper put Spurs in 1 with a minute and change to go. On the other side, the Spurs gave a dunk to Nathan Knight before returning the ball and committing a foul on the cleared path. The next time Spurs got the ball back they were down 3 with 50 seconds left. Jones made a great play, penetrating the paint before kicking an open Vassell who knocked down a huge clutch three to even the ball play.

Unfortunately, that was the end of it for Spurs as Knight had a 2-point tip for the T’Wolves with 15 seconds left before a Jones missed 3 at the end ended Spurs for good.

Here are some final stats from tonight:

Devin Vassell – 23 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals

Tre Jones – 16 points, 8 assists, 3 rebounds

Josh Primo – 8 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals

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