Julian Champagnie Starts Hot, But San Antonio Spurs Fall Flat, Lose 5th Straight vs. Utah Jazz

The San Antonio Spurs hosted former assistant coach Will Hardy and his Utah Jazz back to Frost Bank Center Tuesday evening, but despite a hot start, they couldn't get the job done and fell short for the fifth straight outing.

SAN ANTONIO — Victor Wembanyama hates missing games. 

The San Antonio Spurs rookie made that a part of his pre-season promise. He was going to be as healthy as he could be and play all 82 games if he could. While that was inevitably not going to be the case, he's been awfully close to start the year. 

Wembanyama missed his third game of the season against the Dallas Mavericks after a freak accident involving Dallas' ball boy. After some initial examination, Gregg Popovich decided to hold the rookie out, much to the his dismay.

So, with another game missed, Wembanyama turned his attention to facing the Utah Jazz Tuesday night. But despite their best efforts, they once again fell short to mark their fifth straight loss.

Keldon Johnson led the charge for San Antonio, dropping 26 points on an efficient night from downtown, while four of the five starters for the Spurs finished in double figures, including Julian Champagnie, who shined with 16 points in his seventh start this year. Wembanyama missed out on a double-double, but denied another four shots to pair with his 15 points. 

Collectively, the Spurs shot well from deep — a 46 percent clip — and only gave up seven turnovers, but it was Utah's overall field-goal percentage that ultimately did them in. Utah shot close to 50 percent on the game, led by Jordan Clarkson and Lauri Markkanen, who combined for 55 points. Behind them, Colin Sexton finished with 20 points of his own to help Utah rally to a 130-118 victory.

Dec 26, 2023; San Antonio, Texas, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Julian Champagnie (30) shoots over Utah Jazz forward John Collins (20) in the first half at the Frost Bank Center / © Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports

Right from the bat, Champagnie took full advantage of his starting minutes. After waiting on the left wing for an outlet pass on the Spurs' first possession, Wembanyama found him to open up scoring and notch his first assist. From there, the small forward made two shots on streaks down low and another 3-pointer to become the first San Antonio player in double figures before five minutes had ticked off the clock. 

As a whole, the Spurs rallied behind Champagnie's offensive spark. Wembanyama hit a 3-pointer of his own, which was matched by Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson on back-to-back possessions. Zach Collins got in on the action, too, but a string of bad plays led to not only his visible frustration, but that of the entire arena, as Utah creeped closer to cut a 15-point lead down to just five to close the second quarter.

Jazz rookie Keyonte George notched his first points on an And-1 floater to continue adding momentum for Utah, and after a few key missed shots, the lead was down to just one point. A minute later, and it became a deficit for San Antonio. 

Both teams continued to go back and forth for the better part of the second quarter, but a Wembanyama And-1 response allowed the Spurs to re-take the lead with around seven minutes to play. Collins checked back in to send the rookie back to the bench, and in the minutes that followed, neither was able to break away.

But with 5:32 to play in the second quarter, Devin Vassell — after heading to the exercise bike briefly to work through what appeared to be a lower-body injury — came right back into the game flying. 

Almost literally. 

Fly Dev Fly ✈️ pic.twitter.com/O44aTYdr4o

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) December 27, 2023

Collins gave the shooting guard an alley-oop as he sprinted at the rim to give the Spurs back the lead and the momentum. Briefly. Jeremy Sochan hit a 3-pointer to begin building back a cushion, but Utah responded to build and maintain a lead of its own as it headed to the locker room up 66-60.

With San Antonio needing any and all momentum to kick off the second half, Utah didn't let up. The Jazz's first points of the half came on a cherry picking Colin Sexton, who bounced the ball off the floor into a 180-degree dunk to put the exclamation point on a strong first-half finish. 

Utah maintained a healthy lead for the first half of the third period, but San Antonio began to work itself back into striking distance behind a pair of 3-pointers from Vassell and Johnson. The Spurs worked the lead down to six points, and then a steal by Vassell forced the shooting guard to chase down a loose ball that resulted in a Jones layup, an energized crowd and a Jazz timeout. 

From there, the Spurs continued to battle with Utah. Johnson threw down a one-handed poster to once again send Frost Bank Center into a frenzy. A Jones And-1 layup did the same a few minutes later, but no matter how close San Antonio got, it never quite tied the game as it headed to the final period down by seven points. 

The fourth quarter saw much of the same. San Antonio continued to let up points while slowing down itself, and Utah continued to roll all the way through the fourth quarter, eventually securing a 130-118 road victory over the struggling Spurs.

With the loss, San Antonio falls to 4-25 on the season and drop five straight after beating the Los Angeles Lakers at home. Next up for the youngest team in the NBA is a trip to Portland for back-to-back contests against the also-struggling Trail Blazers.

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A win there could be a chance for the Spurs to get back on track before hosting the Boston Celtics on New Year's Eve. 

Tipoff from Portland is set for 9 p.m. CST Thursday.