SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Spurs could not shake the Milwaukee Bucks Tuesday night.
After starting the season 1-3 at the AT&T Center, the Spurs won nine straight but that streak ended to a team that came into San Antonio playing .500 ball, and were without their leading scorer Giannis Antetokounmpo.
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The Bucks stopped the Spurs 109-107.
The game came down to a last second shot for a Spurs win.
With the Bucks up two, Kawhi Leonard drove down the lane and then kicked it out to a wide open Manu Ginobili for the corner three, but his shot went off the side of the backboard.
"I was wide open, terrible shot but Kawhi made a great play," said Ginobili. "Nothing too add, terrible shot, miss."
"Great execution, great play by Kawhi, wide open shot. He didn't make it," said Spurs center Pau Gasol. "We shouldn't have been in that position to begin with."
It was a shot the Spurs love to have. "We took the last shot, great shot uncontested, wide open one of our best shooters, take that all day," Gasol said.
The Spurs got another all-star performance from their leading scorer Kawhi Leonard who lead all scorers with 30 points. It was his ninth 30-point plus game of this season.
That wasn't the problem, it was the Spurs defense that was the main reason they got into the position they did in the end.
The score was tied at 23 after the first quarter, then Leonard opened the second quarter with a personal 11-0 run that included getting fouled on a made three pointer for a four point play.
Tony Parker was able to work his way through a pretty tough defense in the paint and managed eight in the quarter, including a two hander that he brought down to his knees while in the air and then got the reverse to go. Parker finished with 14 points.
The Spurs were up by 13 with two minutes left in the game and then the Bucks closed it to six by halftime.
Kawhi got called for a foul on Malcolm Brogdon and the ref determined it was in the act of shooting. Brogdon hit all three free throws.
"Usually they know we are going to foul if we have a foul to give, you know things happen," said Leonard.
Getting the lead down to six at halftime was one of the turning points of the game.
"Going in with a six point game versus 13 I thought was a big difference," Lee said.
Milwaukee forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is averaging 24 points a game was fighting off of fever, but started. He was ineffective only playing nine minutes with zero points.
Michael Beasley was there to pick up the slack off the bench. Beasley scored a season high 28 points.
"Obviously (Michael) Beasley was great, we never stopped him. But in general our defense was not up to par," said Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich.
The Spurs gave up 30 points in the second quarter and another 30 in the third. Then the Bucks outscored them 26-18 in the fourth to pull off win.
Davis Bertans followed up his 21 point performance Saturday against Charlotte with 11 points.
With 10 seconds left in the game, Bertans missed an open three that would have given the Spurs a two point lead.
"He's got a lot of confidence after last game," Lee said. "Can't ask for a better look there as well as Manu's look at the end."
Lee got the start against Milwaukee since LaMarcus Aldridge missed the game with gastroenteritis. Lee finished with 10 points.
The Spurs will look to rebound on Thursday when they host the Los Angeles Lakers.