The defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs fell in stunning fashion to Alba Berlin 94-93 Wednesday in their preseason opener.
Jamel McLean beat the buzzer for the victory with a running banker, leading Spurs head coach to admit that they got their asses kicked.
San Antonio now moves on to Istanbul, where they’ll battle Fenerbahce Ulker on Saturday before returning home for their remaining preseason games.
Per the Express-News:
McLean stole an errant inbound pass from Tim Duncan before racing down court. It was the last of 24 turnovers for the Spurs, who also shot just 4 for 16 on 3-pointers in their first official action since crushing Miami in last season’s Finals for their fifth championship.
Interestingly, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich went for the victory, giving Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard big fourth-quarter minutes as the two teams battled back and forth. The Spurs, who blew all of an early 16-point lead, appeared to have things wrapped up as Parker headed to the foul line with 14.1 seconds left. But he missed both, and Alba scored the final five points on Reggie Redding’s 3 and McLean’s winner.
Said Popovich, “We really wanted to win, but Alba kicked our ass. They did a great job.”
