A dominant San Antonio Spurs thrashed winless Washington Wizards 118-92 Monday night to continue their successful road trip.
"I'd like someday for us to play like that," Wizards coach Randy Wittman said of San Antonio's performance.
"They carved us up pretty good tonight."
Spurs' Tiago Splitter had an all-round game scoring 15 points, to go with his seven assists and 12 rebounds, with Boris Diaw adding 16 points. Five others reached double figures -- Tony Parker (15), Tim Duncan (14), Gary Neal (13), Manu Ginobili (12) and Matt Bonner (11).
In the history of the NBA, the Wizards are the 12th team to start the season with 12 straight losses. The New Jersey Nets tops the list with 18 consecutive losses to start the season in 2009-10.
San Antonio took an early lead and then dominated all four quarters of the game. In the first quarter they outscored the Wizards 29-25 with the second quarter yielding the away team 31 points to Washington's 23.
The third quarter also belonged to the Spurs, which saw them increase their overall lead to 92-70, before they pulled away further to seal the game in the final quarter.
Spurs coach Greg Popovich acknowledged Wahington's injury woes, with John Wall, in particular, sorely missed by the home side.
"You know, you take Tony and Tim off the floor, Manu and Tony off the floor for us, and we'll have a tough time," Popovich said. "In the NBA, having your best players is really important."
The Spurs, after their tiring double-overtime game on Sunday, did not play anyone more than 26 minutes against the Wizards.
"It was huge for us to have a good start and make sure we play well right away," Parker said. "Don't mess with them, because we knew they were 0-11.
"You don't want to mess with that kind of team. You just want to from the get-go pound them and that's what we did."
For the Wizards, Jordan Crawford was the top scorer with 19 points, with Kevin Seraphin adding 18 points and seven rebounds while Martell Webster scored 16 points. The Wizards had only 14 assists in total against Spurs' 32.
"We're all embarrassed -- plain and simple," Webster said.
© Copyright 2024 Sports World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
