Spurs 'Hurt' After Epic Collapse vs. Grizzlies

The Memphis Grizzlies overcame a 29-point deficit to beat the San Antonio Spurs Friday night, leaving the home team hurt after the loss.

Jeremy Brener | Mar 18, 2023

Spurs 'Hurt' After Epic Collapse vs. Grizzlies /

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San Antonio Spurs

The San Antonio Spurs are still processing Friday night's loss against the Memphis Grizzlies, where the team led by 29 points in the middle of the third quarter.

The Spurs played well to get to that point, but had the 10th-largest collapse in NBA history and largest one this season.

"We've been competitive all year. We shouldn't have lost that game," Zach Collins said. "We were up 30. We shouldn't have lost. We kept taking bad shots and that put them in transition and we were playing on our heels for a lot of that run they made. We didn't execute as we did in the first half."

The Spurs executed flawlessly in the first half, playing one of their best stretches of basketball as a team this season, but no lead is safe in the NBA, even a double-digit lead with two minutes to go.

"We just got to learn how to close out a game," Devin Vassell said. "We were up 11 with two minutes left. Several communication things and just being able to execute down the stretch is big. I said it all year, we're a young team we got to learn but that one [loss] hurt. We just got to keep playing our game. We just got to learn from it."

Sometimes the best learning experiences can stem from bad losses, but the Spurs can only prove whether they learned from the loss in their next opportunity. That comes Sunday afternoon against Dejounte Murray and the Atlanta Hawks.

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Published Mar 18, 2023

JEREMY BRENER

Jeremy Brener is an editor, writer and social media manager for several Fan Nation websites. His work has also been featured in 247 Sports and SB Nation as a writer and podcaster. Brener has been with Fan Nation since 2021. Brener grew up in Houston, going to Astros, Rockets and Texans games as a kid. He moved to Orlando in 2016 to go to college and pursue a degree. He hosts "The Dream Take" podcast covering the Rockets, which has produced over 350 episodes since March 2020. Brener graduated in May 2020 from the University of Central Florida with a Bachelor's degree in Broadcast Journalism minoring in Sport Business Management. While at UCF, Brener worked for the school's newspaper NSM.today and "Hitting the Field," a student-run sports talk show and network. He was the executive producer for "Hitting the Field" from 2019-20. During his professional career, Brener has covered a number of major sporting events including the Pro Bowl, March Madness and several NBA and NFL games. As a fan, Brener has been to the 2005 World Series, 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 NCAA National Championship between the Villanova Wildcats and North Carolina Tar Heels. Now, Brener still resides in the Central Florida area and enjoys writing, watching TV, hanging out with friends and going to the gym. Brener can be followed on Twitter @JeremyBrener. For more inquiries, please email jeremybrenerchs@gmail.com.