The San Antonio Spurs dropped their third straight road game of the preseason falling 100-86 to the Atlanta Hawks in Philips Arena on Wednesday night. The Hawks scored 15 straight points late in the third quarter behind the 3-point shooting of Kyle Korver to turn a 4-point deficit into an 11-point lead.
The Spurs closed the gap to seven at the end of the third, but Atlanta open up the fourth quarter with a 9-0 run to blow the game wide open.
Jeff Teague led the way for the Hawks with 19 points on 5 for 8 shooting from the floor, including 2 for 3 from beyond the arc and 7 for 7 from the line. He added five rebounds and three assists as Atlanta improved to 3-0 on the preseason.
Korver and Paul Millsap also reached double figures in scoring in the win. Korver totaled 13 points on 50 percent shooting from 3-point land with four rebounds while Millsap registered 13 points on 6 for 9 shooting from the field with a game-high nine rebounds and two steals.
Dennis Schroder added 10 points on 60 percent shooting to go along with four assists and three rebounds in 17 minutes while Al Horford came away with seven points, five rebounds and four assists.
Kawhi Leonard paced the Spurs in the loss with 20 points on 6 for 16 shooting with eight rebounds and two assists. Manu Ginobili recorded 10 points on 4 for 5 shooting from the floor with three steals and two rebounds in 12 minutes.
Jimmer Fredette saw plenty of court time and had some nice moments. He finished with four points on 2 for 6 shooting from the floor, including a miss on his only 3-point attempt. He added three rebounds and two turnovers in 15 minutes.
His first basket of the night came in the third quarter when he grabbed an offensive rebound on the break and knocked down a 15-footer from the left-wing to give the Spurs a 4-point lead. His only other bucket came late in the fourth when he got to the rim on a spin move and finished in traffic. His best offensive play of the night came when he had a crossover followed by a spin move that got him open on the underside of the rim, but he missed the reverse lay-up.
His competition for minutes/and or a roster all saw action on the night and had varying results. Deshaun Thomas ended up with eight points on 2 for 6 shooting from the floor and 4 for 4 from the free-throw with a rebound, an assist and a steal along with two turnovers while Rasual Butler went scoreless on 0 for 6 shooting from the floor, including 0 for 3 from beyond the arc with five rebounds and two assists in 14 minutes. Kyle Anderson had four points on 1 for 5 shooting in 16 minutes while Reggie Williams totaled three points on 1 for 3 shooting from 3-point land. Ray McCallum also finished with three points on 1 for 4 shooting and Keifer Sykes didn’t score on 0 for 2 shooting in nine minutes. Jonathan Simmons played nine minutes as well and managed one, point, one assist and one rebound as well as three turnovers.
Up next for Fredette and the Spurs is a Sunday afternoon home game against the Detroit Pistons.