San Antonio Spurs Close Out Season With Blowout Win Over Detroit Pistons

The San Antonio Spurs have officially wrapped up the first season with rookie star Victor Wembanyama.

The San Antonio Spurs closed out their 2023-24 regular season with a dominant 123-95 win over the Detroit Pistons at the Frost Bank Center on Sunday afternoon.

Star rookie Victor Wembanyama was just one of multiple Spurs out for the game due to injury, but there was no shortage of scoring production.

The Spurs (22-60) put together a balanced scoring effort, as nearly the entire team reached double figures led by 18 points from Sandro Mamukelashvili. Zach Collins (17 points, nine rebounds), Tre Jones (11 points, six rebounds, six assists) Blake Wesley (17 points, six rebounds, five assists) and Julian Champagnie (11 points, six assists) all had solid games in the starting lineup.

Apr 14, 2024; San Antonio, Texas, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Julian Champagnie (30) dunks vs. the Detroit Pistons

Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports

Off the bench, Spurs rookie Sidy Cissoko delivered highlight after highlight on both ends. He finished with seven points, five rebounds, five assists, three steals and two blocks. Devonte' Graham (12 points), David Duke Jr. (15 points) and Raiquan Gray (10 points) all had double figures off the bench.

Detroit (14-68) got a game-high 21 points and 18 rebounds from James Wiseman while Marcus Sasser added 17 points and seven assists. Jaden Ivey finished with 13 points and Jared Rhoden had 16 points and four rebounds off the bench.

The Spurs had a flurry of dunks in the first quarter from Champagnie, Cissoko and Wesley while Graham hit a pair of triples after his late-game heroics against the Nuggets on Friday. Mamukelashvili paced the team with eight points as San Antonio led 29-23 at the end of the opening period.

San Antonio broke things open in the second quarter with a 13-2 run that eventually helped balloon the lead to 20 at 47-27 after Champagnie nailed a corner triple. The Spurs then followed this up with an 11-0 run to push the lead even further to 27 at 61-34 before heading into halftime up 63-40.

Collins found his rhythm in the second quarter and had a game-high 15 points and six rebounds at halftime.

However, he appeared to injury his right shoulder and was immediately escorted back to the locker room. Despite this, the Spurs offense kept rolling and built the lead to 30 after Jones threw down a surprisingly-vicious dunk midway through the third quarter.

From here, the Spurs kept their foot on the pedal and never looked back to close the season out in style.

The Spurs will now head into the offseason with tons of attention surrounding how the team will plan to build around Wembanyama in Year 2.