Atlanta and San Antonio entertained the viewing audience with a frenetic and hotly contested battle throughout the first 2 1⁄2 stanzas with a handful of lead changes before the Spurs were done in by a thousand ‘cuts’ of Hawks dunks, unforced turnovers, and spotty offensive execution after a hot start in their 12th straight loss.
The Spurs welcomed back Keldon Johnson, Tre Jones, and Jeremy Sochan to the starting line-up and stormed out of the gates to stake an early lead. So much action and offensive execution occurred in the opening frame, but a flurry of turnovers and foul trouble to their already-impacted bigs allowed the Hawks to soar ahead of San Antonio in the first behind DeAndre Hunter’s dozen.