That means hard work for Jakob Pöltl. The Viennese had no fewer than five matches to complete with his San Antonio Spurs between yesterday’s Stefanitag and New Year’s.
It goes without saying that the two game-free days around Christmas Eve were a welcome change from the tough everyday professional life. The 26-year-old prepared the best present himself. Pöltl contributed eight points, three rebounds and two assists to the surprisingly clear 138: 110 away win of the Texans over the Los Angeles Lakers.
“A good throw evening and a great performance by our bankers,” said Pöltl happily, who celebrated Christmas with his loved ones. Mum was there live at the coup in Los Angeles, dad and sister flew straight to San Antonio and stayed for around a week, during which they could cheer for Jakob in three home games in the arena.
San Antonio is currently rolling up the field from behind, the Spurs hold with a season record of 13:18. Of the last 14 matches, nine have been won, which nourishes confidence with a view to the play-offs.
“Our greatest strength or our identity is that we play well together, that the ball moves. To do this, we have to play at full throttle every evening, which is exhausting. But when we have energy, we are hard to beat,” said Pöltl, who has meanwhile risen to one of the leading players in the team. In the evaluation of the offensive rebounds and the defended throws, the 2.13-meter man is in the absolute top field of the NBA.
“It certainly has to do with the extended role that the stats look okay on a not so good day. All in all, things are going according to plan, I can support the team well and I am satisfied with my performance over the season.” , Pöltl thinks his Christmas balance sheet is more than okay. “I don’t do anything differently than in previous years, now I just get more opportunities.” But you have to take advantage of this opportunity first.
Los Angeles was definitely worth the trip. Pöltl was on the ball at the farewell performance of the legendary “Staples Center”. Don’t worry: the legendary hall will not be demolished, since Saturday it has only been called a different one – namely crypto.com arena. 700 million US dollars (the equivalent of 618.92 million euros) for the next two decades were leafed onto the table for name sponsorship.
In terms of sport, things could go better for the Lakers at the moment. Even superstar LeBron James (36 points) could not prevent the fourth defeat en suite.
Source: Nachrichten
