RECAP: San Antonio Spurs beat the Chicago Bulls to end four-game skid

Jakob Poeltl scored a career-high-tying 20 points as the San Antonio Spurs built a huge lead and then held on to beat the new-look Chicago Bulls 120-104 on Saturday and snap a four-game losing streak.

DeMar DeRozan added 17 points for San Antonio.

The Spurs ran Chicago out of the building in the first half, leading by many as 31 points before settling for a 65-39 halftime advantage. San Antonio expanded that margin to 36 points late in the third quarter before the Bulls found some cohesiveness. Chicago clawed to within nine points at 107-98 with 5:13 to play but ultimately ran out of time and momentum.

Seven San Antonio players scored in double figures. Derrick White and Patty Mills scored 16 each, Dejounte Murray and Keldon Johnson tallied 14 each and Rudy Gay added in 11 for the Spurs.

It was Chicago’s first game with its remade lineup after acquiring Nikola Vucevic, Al-Farouq Aminu, Daniel Theis, Javonte Green and Troy Brown Jr. at the trade deadline. All except Theis saw the court on Saturday, but it will obviously take the team time to mesh.

Vucevic led the Bulls with 21 points and nine rebounds. Zach Levine added 18, Coby White hit for 13, and Thaddeus Young and Lauri Markkanen scored 10 points each.

The Spurs led 33-20 after one period, shooting 62.5 percent from the floor. The runaway continued through the first half of the second quarter, when San Antonio hit 10 of their first 14 shots, forged an 18-0 run that eventually netted it a 58-27 lead with 4:32 left.

A late surge by the Bulls brought them back to 65-39 at halftime, but left Chicago with a massive hill to climb to get back in the game.

DeRozan, Poeltl and Mills scored 10 points each to pace San Antonio at the break. Tomas Satoransky led the Bulls, who ended by hitting just 17 of 49 shots over the first two quarters, with eight points in the half.

Chicago has dropped three straight and five of its past six games. Saturday’s loss was the first contest of a four-game road trip that continues with stops in San Francisco, Phoenix and Salt Lake City.

–Field Level Media

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Author: Field Level Media

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