Veteran San Antonio Spurs guard Devonte' Graham has reason for frustration. Four years ago, he averaged 18.2 points per game with the Charlotte Hornets. This season, he's played in just 18 of 77 possible games for a San Antonio team that's struggled as they begin to embark on their rebuild. Instead of sulking, the 29-year-old guard has taken the opposite approach.
“Life’s not really that bad. Wake up, get to travel, eat a lot of good food. Paid flights, charter flights. If not playing basketball is the worst thing that’s going on in my life, I think I’m doing pretty well.”
“Devonte' was superb,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich added following the one-time New Orleans Pelican's performance vs. his former team on Friday night.
Graham led the shorthanded Spurs in scoring with 20 points in a 111-109 victory.
Devonte' Graham steps up in rare opportunity
Continuing a recent trend that coincides with injuries sustained by key Spurs players, the 25 minutes Graham played vs. the Pelicans were easily a season high. Off the heels of a then season high 19 minutes in Tuesday's loss to the Denver Nuggets and 18 minutes, also at the time a season high, vs. the Golden State Warriors on Sunday, Graham's previous season high was 17 minutes back on November 14th in a 36-point blowout against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
On Friday, Devonte' Graham's five assists trailed just Victor Wembanyama's nine.
“We can only salute the team effort,” Wemby said following the Spurs fourth win in their last six games.
“Everyone knew to step up. I think about some guys who don't usually have minutes, but also, like Devonte', who had one of the biggest roles tonight. I just think everything worked out. We fit together tonight as a team,” the generational talent continued.
With the Spurs missing Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson, and Jeremy Sochan, their second, third and fourth leading scorers in that order, Sandro Mamukelashvili drew his first start of the season.
“I'm so proud of Devonte' because I know it's not easy,” the 6-foot-9 forward said. “I feel like he's a professional. He kept his head, he kept his composure and attacked with a full strength.”
Mamukelashvili proved to be another reason the Spurs recorded their 19th win of the season.
Sandro Mamukelashvili also comes up big for shorthanded Spurs
Like Graham, Mamukelashvili also recorded a season in playing time. And like Graham, he put those extra minutes to good use with a season high 15 points and five rebounds.
“Sandro was superb,” his Hall of Fame coach said.
“It's a great feeling,” Mamukelashvili admitted. “Whenever you get your chance, you just come out there and you believe in yourself. You believe that it's happening and you're going to take advantage of your opportunity.”
Popovich praised the entire team, especially the players who don't usually see the court.
“Overall, it took a good number of people to keep up the energy. We started out slow in the first half but in the second half we came around physically and played better.” the winningest coach in NBA history added. “The contributions from a lot of guys that haven't played a lot.”
“I feel like we worked hard for this moment. We've just got to finish strong,” Mamukelashvili said.
Thanks, in part, to two of the Spurs who've played the least, San Antonio is enjoying one of its best stretches of the season with wins in four of their last six games.
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