San Antonio Spurs: Top 3 individual performances from the 2018-19 NBA season
Nobody knew what to expect from the San Antonio Spurs coming into the 2018-19 NBA season.
They had just traded their franchise cornerstone in Kawhi Leonard for DeMar DeRozan and Jakob Poeltl and just before the season started, they lost their starting point guard Dejounte Murray for the season.
They started off poorly, but picked up pace and ended the regular season with a 48-34 record in the 7th spot, where they faced the Denver Nuggets, who were the 2nd seed.
It was an epic 7-game series in the first round, but the San Antonio Spurs came up short, losing out to the Denver Nuggets 4-3. Even though they had a disappointing post-season run, nobody expected the Spurs to put up such a solid performance this season.
With so many injuries tearing the roster apart, they were still one of the top teams in the Western Conference. Here are the top 3 individual performances from their 2018-19 NBA season.
#3 DeMar DeRozan (San Antonio Spurs)
DeMar DeRozan was a happy player at Toronto Raptors until one fateful night when he was traded to San Antonio Spurs for Kawhi Leonard.
Since then, he has been the go-to player at the Spurs, leading them from the front and into the playoffs in a season where they were hit by season-altering injuries.
They were considered to be out of the race for the playoffs but a great run led by DeRozan and his teammates included a superb game against the Golden State Warriors.
The Spurs played the Warriors at San Antonio and took them down in miraculous fashion, winning 111-105, with DeRozan leading them from the front.
He played 38 minutes that night, scoring 26 points, along with 8 assists and 9 rebounds. He had one steal on the defensive end and had just 3 turnovers.
It was during the final games of the regular season and the Spurs were fighting for the post-season seeding, and this win was vital to keep their run of form going.
Stat line: 26 points, 9-17 FG, 8-9 FT, 1 steal, 3 TOs in 38 minutes against the Golden State Warriors