3 takeaways as Spurs crash back down to Earth with home loss to Utah Jazz

Welcome back to Earth, San Antonio Spurs.

Lauri Markkanen scored 29 points and Keyonte George had 28 as the Utah Jazz cooled the Spurs 127-114 on Saturday at the Frost Bank Center.

The loss snapped an eight-game regular-season winning streak for the Spurs, who were coming off consecutive victories against the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder.

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“A guy who used to coach here used to say the basketball gods,” said Spurs coach Mitch Johnson, referring to his predecessor, Gregg Popovich. “We didn’t obey them tonight.”

It was a letdown one could see coming from two counties over, even with the now 12-19 Jazz coming off a victory against Eastern Conference-leading Detroit.

Utah started Saturday hot, making its first seven field-goal attempts, and never cooled off.

The Jazz shot 54.2% from the floor and made 17 of 37 3-point attempts in building a lead that got as high as 17 points.

The Spurs battled back in the second half and briefly tied the game at 106 with 7:43 to go, but the Jazz dug deep to close out the game.

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It was the Spurs’ first loss this season against a team with a losing record. They had been 13-0 heading into Saturday.

Making his first start since Nov. 14, Victor Wembanyama had 32 points to go with five blocks. Keldon Johnson added a season-high 27 points – the most for any Spurs player off the bench this season – to go with 10 rebounds, while Dylan Harper added a season-best 12 assists.

It was the Spurs’ first loss since a Dec. 16 defeat against the New York Knicks in the NBA Cup final, a game that does not count in the regular-season standings.

It was their first loss in a game that counted since Dec. 5 at Cleveland.

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Those are the Spurs’ next two opponents on the current homestand.

Here are three takeaways from Saturday’s defeat, which dropped the Spurs to 23-8:

1. Human nature wins again

From the get-go, the game was set up to be a trap.

The Spurs were riding an eight-game regular-season winning streak that included consecutive victories over Oklahoma City, including a rousing Christmas Day win on the champs’ home floor two days earlier.

Before the game against the sub-.500 Jazz, the Spurs talked about guarding against a letdown.

“Those were two great wins for us against the team that won the Finals last year,” Harper said. “Going into this game, it was about keeping that same intensity and the same level of focus and be overall fully prepared.”

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Human nature, however, remains undefeated.

The Spurs started off solidly enough, carving a 40-32 lead after the first quarter.

The second quarter, however, was a disaster.

Utah outscored the Spurs 38-18 in the frame to take a 10-point lead into intermission. The Jazz shot 68.4% in the first half, including 9 of 15 from 3-point range (60%).

Nurkic and Markkanen combined for 27 before halftime, helping the Jazz find their footing early.

2. Wemby back in starting lineup

It was only a matter of time before Wembanyama’s Sixth Man of the Year campaign came to an end.

After coming off the bench for seven consecutive games, including the NBA Cup loss against New York in Las Vegas, Wembanyama was back where he belongs in the Spurs’ starting lineup Saturday.

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His shifts remain funky, however.

Wembanyama came out of the game 5:13 into the first quarter, and did not return until the start of the second period.

He finished the first half at 12:24, ostensibly leaving some minutes on the table for a second-half stretch run.

Wembanyama took over for stretches in the second half, and finished with his first 30-point game since Nov. 12 against Golden State. His five blocks were his most since Nov. 10 at Chicago.

Wembanyama eventually got up to 28 minutes, his most in eight games since coming off the injured list.

Saturday’s outcome did add to one of the more head-scratching streaks of the Spurs’ season. The team has now lost each of Wembanyama’s last three starts.

3. Johnson stays hot from 3

The Spurs lost, but not for lack of trying from Keldon Johnson.

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After a rough November from the 3-point stripe, in which Johnson shot 27.5%, he has exploded in December.

In 12 games this month, Johnson is making 48.5% from beyond the arc. He added a 4-of-5 showing Saturday.

Johnson was already one of the NBA’s best at converting two-point shots. If his 3-point stroke can remain serviceable, his name will remain firmly entrenched in the Sixth Man of the Year race now that Wembanyama is out of the running.

This article originally published at 3 takeaways as Spurs crash back down to Earth with home loss to Utah Jazz.