De’Aaron Fox hit for 26 points and Keldon Johnson added a season-high 25 off the bench as the host San Antonio Spurs defeated the Atlanta Hawks 135-126 on Thursday.
The Spurs led by as many as 19 points in the second quarter but entered the final period up by just three. Atlanta briefly made the front on a layup by Nickeil Alexander-Walker with 9:17 to play but San Antonio swung back, forging a 10-0 run capped by Jeremy Sochan’s dunk to make it 110-101.
San Antonio expanded its lead to 15 points on a dunk by David Jones Garcia with 5:03 left before the Hawks made a final charge, drawing to within 11 on Alexander-Walker’s layup 51 seconds later. Atlanta would get no closer than nine points the rest of the way, as the Spurs won their third straight game.
Julian Champagnie added 20 points for San Antonio, with Harrison Barnes scoring 16, Devin Vassell hitting for 15 and Jones Garcia scoring 12 points.
Alexander-Walker poured in a career-high 38 points for the Hawks, which lost their second consecutive game after winning five in a row. Jalen Johnson added 26 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, Kristaps Porzingis scored 16 points, Onyeka Okongwu had 15 and Luke Kennard finished with 10 points for Atlanta.
The teams traded the front in the first quarter, with the Hawks building an eight-point lead late in the period before Fox canned a jumper at the buzzer to pull San Antonio to within 34-28 after 12 minutes of play.
The Spurs took charge early into the second quarter, forging a 24-7 run capped by a Jones Garcia running layup that gave them a 54-41 lead at the 6:39 mark of the period. San Antonio stayed on the accelerator, pushing the margin to 19 points on Keldon Johnson’s three-point play with 1:44 left before settling for a 74-60 advantage at the break.
The Spurs shot 68.2% in the second quarter while Keldon Johnson scored 14 of his team-leading 18 points in the period. Fox had 12 points in the first half and Champagnie hit for 10. Jalen Johnson’s 15 points paced the Hawks before halftime, with Alexander-Walker netting 13 and Porzingis adding 10.
The Hawks made a run midway through the third quarter, drawing to within nine points at the 5:39 mark on Porzingis’ alley-oop dunk off a Jalen Johnson feed. Consecutive 3-pointers by Atlanta’s Wallace on back-to-back possessions late in the quarter tied the game at 92 before Champagnie’s trey granted the Spurs a 95-92 edge heading into the final 12 minutes.
