Kuminga, Thompson help Warriors rebound to upend Spurs 112-102 despite Wembanyama’s strong return
By RAUL DOMINGUEZ
Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Jonathan Kuminga scored 21 points, Klay Thompson added 20 and the Golden State Warriors overcame a sluggish start to beat the San Antonio Spurs 112-102 on Monday night.
San Antonio rookie Victor Wembanyama had 27 points and 14 rebounds in his return from a one-game absence after spraining his right ankle in the first half of Tuesday’s loss in Houston.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said he is unsure if Wembanyama will play against Houston on Tuesday.
Golden State held San Antonio to one point in the final 2:43, immediately after Draymond Green fouled out.
“We weren’t doing anything differently, just the effort and the connection,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “If one guy is out of place and everybody’s giving great effort, it still results in two points. I just felt we were better connected in the second half and as that went, we picked up some momentum.”
Golden State rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis added 13 points and 10 rebounds, including a one-handed dunk over Wembanyama in the final minute that dropped San Antonio’s 7-foot-4 rookie to the court.
With Stephen Curry still out with a sprained right ankle, Thompson returned to the starting lineup. Thompson was 8 for 21 from the field, including 4 for 10 on 3-pointers.
Golden State (34-30) has won nine of its past 10 road games and prevented San Antonio from completing a road-and-home sweep.
After beating the Warriors 126-113 on Saturday without Wembanyama and Devin Vassell, the Spurs could not sustain a balanced effort with their top two scorers back.
Vassell had 17 points and Keldon Johnson added 16 for San Antonio.
“They made 51% of their 3s last game,” Golden State guard Brandin Podziemski said. “Tonight, holding them to 38% was definitely a big key for us, but also just showing what we’re about and not letting anybody punk us.”
San Antonio had 27 assists after collecting 34 on Saturday.
The Warriors limited the Spurs’ scoring opportunities in the second half with a greater intensity defensively.
“So, obviously, consistency is always (important), but today I think it’s also responding to the physicality that they put,” Wembanyama said. “We didn’t have a strong enough response.”
The punctuation came on the offensive end with Jackson-Davis’ dunk.
“I saw that he overplayed it, and he overplayed it to my right. Obviously, I’m left-handed,” Jackson-Davis said. “So, I think I spun or got to my left hand and then I had to step on him. I just tried him. I told (Kevon Looney) before the game that if I got the chance to try him, I would. At the end of the day, sometimes you dunk on people, sometimes you get dunked on. It’s just a basketball play.”
Golden State outscored San Antonio 32-18 in the third quarter, fueled by a 19-0 run that began four minutes into the second half. The Spurs missed eight shots and committed four turnovers during the 4 1/2-minute run in falling behind 86-72.
“They came out and hit us hard in the (start of the) third quarter,” Warriors guard Chris Paul said. “We couldn’t really get stops. We were turning the ball over a little bit. Then we called a timeout and we just settled in. Think we just started defending and getting out in transition and tried to get a little bit more aggressive.”
San Antonio had built a 36-25 lead on a 3-pointer by Johnson with 37 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Paul scored eight points in the final 2:40 to keep the deficit manageable.
Paul finished with 19 points.
UP NEXT
Warriors: At Dallas on Wednesday night.
Spurs: Host Houston on Tuesday night.
