Spurs flounder against Suns, cruise past Clippers and outpace Bucks.

Pau Gasol had a strong showing against Milwaukee.

Like last season, the Suns just seemed to frustrate San Antonio and be a problem, giving the Spurs a first loss at home. However, the defending champions recovered strongly against the next visitors, the LA Clippers, finding themselves on the good side of that predicament instead.

The closest meeting came from the Bucks, and the young Milwaukee squad took a see-saw lead early. The Spurs built momentum as Kawhi Leonard and Pau Gasol started heating up, and Patty Mills made some nice passes, despite a shooting slump as of late.

The Greek Freak, Giannis Antetokounmpo had a woeful night, being smothered by Kawhi Leonard, getting past him a few times, but always meeting Gasol shortly thereafter or even worse, Bismack Biyombo. Eric Bledsoe charged in for some athletic dunks to make up for it, but Giannis went just 4-17 (despite having six impressive blocks) and just 13 points.

Eric Bledsoe roared in 15 points and 7 assists; John Henson had 11 points with 12 rebounds. Khris Middleton had 19 points and former ROY Malcolm Brogdon had 23 points. Tony Snell had 12.

Despite a comeback, the Spurs fell short to Phoenix.

For the Spurs, Kawhi Leonard had 26 points with 8 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 blocks. Pau Gasol was closed behind with 25 points and 11 rebounds. Patty Mills was cold from long range, but had 18 points and 6 assists. Jeremy Lamb had 11 points and some impressive dunks early. Winning 107-110 after a final run by Milwaukee, the Spurs owed a lot to themselves for nice teamwork, hustle and chemistry. They only missed two free throws, whereas the Bucks went 17-29 (58%). The Bucks shot better overall, and from long range, so it's telling that the Spurs simply outplayed the younger squad.

In the Phoenix debacle, the Spurs shot just 31% from 3PT range and 42% overall, horrible compared to the Suns 62% and 50% from deep. The Spurs would cut it to 2 points in the final minute, but too many mistakes did them in here, despite two more strong outputs by Leonard & Gasol. They combined for 62 points, but Kawhi's shot was off compared to the Spaniard. Patty Mills had 8 assists, but shot just 2-9. Rudy Gay went 3-10. Bismack Biyombo had 12 rebounds and 5 blocks in the loss.

For Phoenix, Josh Jackson had 26 points; TJ Warren had 23 and Devin Booker had a modest 17.

Rudy Gay poured in 30 points in the blowout.

Against Los Angeles, the Spurs crushed the Clippers 17-32 in the first quarter, despite only winning by 10 by the end of it and only shooting 17% from 3PT territory. This was Rudy Gay's moment: he had 30 points and 7 rebounds, shooting 50% overall and from 3PT range. He also had 2 steals. Pau Gasol had 15 points and 6 rebounds; Kawhi with just 14 points but six steals. Biyombo had 12 boards.

In the loss, Danilo Gallinari had 20 points with 8 rebounds. DeAndre Jordan had 16 points with 15 rebounds, a strong double-double. Avery Bradley dunked past Biyombo in the lone highlight play for LA, finishing with 14 points. Patrick Beverley went just 2-11.