NBA: Dejounte Murray, Spurs outduel Wizards in 2OT
Dejounte Murray #5 and Jakob Poeltl #25 of the San Antonio Spurs celebrate during overtime against the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena on February 25, 2022 in Washington, DC. Rob Carr/Getty Images/AFP
Keldon Johnson and Jakob Poeltl had career-high scoring games, Dejounte Murray produced his 12th triple-double and the San Antonio Spurs needed all of it to beat the host Washington Wizards 157-153 in double overtime on Friday.
Johnson led the Spurs with 32 points, Poeltl added 28 points and 11 rebounds, and Murray, fresh off his first All-Star Game appearance, racked up 31 points, 14 assists and 13 rebounds.
The Spurs led by eight points after Murray’s jumper with 1:20 to play in regulation. But Washington clawed back, tying the game at 130 on Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s layup with 19.4 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime.
Corey Kispert tips it in for the @WashWizards to send it to overtime!
Watch OT on NBA League Pass: https://t.co/ksZ27WgfCO pic.twitter.com/iLnxgo5Zmb
— NBA (@NBA) February 26, 2022
There were 10 lead changes in the first extra period, the final on Murray’s 3-pointer with 25.6 seconds left that made it 145-143. Washington called time out to set up Raul Neto’s layup with 18.3 seconds to play that tied the game and ultimately produced the second overtime.
Poeltl’s rebound and outback with 2:37 left in the second overtime put the Spurs on top at 151-150, and Murray’s running bank shot with 1:03 remaining pushed San Antonio’s lead to three points. After a miss by Washington, Poeltl’s floating jumper off Murray’s 14th assist of the game gave the Spurs the margin they needed to close out the gritty win.
San Antonio has won four of its past five games.
Kyle Kuzma tied his season-high with 36 points, with Caldwell-Pope adding 24, Neto scoring 22 and Daniel Gafford hitting for 17 points for Washington, which has dropped two of its past three games.
The Wizards led by as many as seven points in the first quarter and were up 33-30 at its conclusion behind 11 points by Caldwell-Pope. San Antonio fought back to take the lead at 60-59 on Murray’s jumper at the 3:41 mark of the second.
The Spurs held on to the advantage for the rest of the period, going to halftime with a 75-71 lead after scoring a season-high 45 points in the second quarter.
Murray led all scorers in the half with 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting and added eight assists and eight rebounds. Johnson added 18 and Poeltl had 14 in the half for San Antonio.
Caldwell-Pope hit for 18 points by halftime, with Kuzma contributing 14 and Deni Avdija scoring 10 for Washington.
