For at least a game, life was good again for Keldon Johnson and Devin Vassell
The Spurs' tandem of young vets scored 29 points apiece in a 24-point comeback win over the Hawks. It was a moment they'd hoped to experience more often this season, but one they'll still relish.
Devin Vassell decided he didn’t want to wait for Keldon Johnson’s post-game press conference to end before he got up on the podium.
“I’m with you, come on,” he informed Johnson. “We’re doing this at the same time, so let’s get started.”
Keldon had already been gushing about his running mate before Vassell had even entered the room. As is often the case with Johnson when he’s riding an emotional high, his mouth was nearly running too fast for his brain to handle after the Spurs’ 126-118 comeback victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday. New sentences were forming before the previous ones were punctuated, and every question directed toward him was answered in tangents.
“We’re steadily getting people back, they’re steadily getting healthier and healthier — man, I’m more than happy to see Devin out there again, having fun and hitting shots,” he said with a grin and an uninterrupted stream of consciousness. “Just to see him getting better and better each game, to see his growth and all the hard work he’s put in to get back on the court after he had his procedure, it was big. I couldn’t do nothing but smile.
“I can’t even—”
It was then that Vassell made his entrance, interrupted Johnson and righted the proverbial post-game ship — which in its own way was a reflection of what had just unfolded for the Spurs that afternoon.
The reacclimation process for Vassell had been rust-covered and filled with frustration since his return from injury in early March. The shots he was used to taking and hitting were not going down, the defensive plays he’d grown accustomed to making just weren’t happening, and the confidence with which he’d entered the season was being tested. But against the Hawks, the old Vassell was back, and his scoring surge — a career-high-tying 29 points — set the stage for what would eventually become a 30-point swing in the second half.
With the Spurs facing a 24-point deficit in the early stages of the third quarter, Vassell popped off for a personal 8-0 run during a 90-second span that opened the floodgates for the rest of his teammates. And everything was working. The side-step, the step-back, the pull-up, the fade-away — Vassell was in his bag, and Johnson was in his teammate’s ear.
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