In their final Summer League game of 2023, the shorthanded Spurs fought tooth and nail with the Pistons in fun, defensive-minded game. After a slow start, they used an 18-5 run to close the first half and take the lead, and for most of the second half they kept Detroit at arm's length, but the Spurs finally started looking gassed down the stretch and ended up falling 73-79.
Observations
- The Spurs entered the game having to win by 27 points if they wanted to advance to the Summer League playoffs via the tie-breaker of point differential, but if they actually cared, they wouldn’t have shut down Victor Wembanyama and Malaki Branham and benched Julian Champagnie, arguably the MVP of the SL team.