Gregg Popovich Praises Defense, Blames Shooting on San Antonio Spurs Loss in Minnesota
The San Antonio Spurs lost their 15th straight game on Wednesday night, this time on the road to the Minnesota Timberwolves, 102-94. The Spurs were actually winning 53-46 at the half but squandered their lead in typical fashion.
Victor Wembanyama contributed an inefficient 12 points, and Devin Vassell led the way with 22 points (If you read my betting columns, you know to take his over every night!). While a loss was to be expected, coach Gregg Popovich trotted out a new starting lineup that flummoxed fans.
Charles Bassey blocks New Orleans' Brandon Ingram at the rim.
© Stephen Lew, USA TODAY
Despite calls all year to start a traditional point guard in place of Jeremy Sochan–Tre Jones, maybe–the Spurs did opt to have Sochan start the game on the bench, in favor of a starting five of Vassell, Wembanyama, Cedi Osman, Keldon Johnson, and Zach Collins. Noticeably without a point guard again, the Spurs’ offense was not enough for the Timberwolves, who fought back to win convincingly.
After the game, Popovich gave some insight into what he didn’t like from his new starting five. "I think they did well,” he said. “That’s the best team in the West and we gave them a good run. You shoot eight-for-37 from three, you’re going to have a tough night and a whole lot of things better be perfect after that. Can’t make many mistakes and we’re making mistakes, but I thought their competitiveness was great.”
The Spurs actually shot eight of 36 from deep. Tomayto, tomahto.
Despite the constant losses, Popovich is still optimistic about his young group. “Execution was getting better all the time, but there’s still too many mistakes, not enough habits and we just keep working at that. That’s going to be the measure, we are how we work through this and continue to try to alleviate mistakes because if we’re not making shots, as I said, we better be doing a lot of other good things.”
Those ‘other good things’ Popovich alluded to could be that the Spurs won the turnover battle 14-11, or it could be about their defense, which held offensive superpowers Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns to 17 and 14 points, respectively. Mike Conley was the leading scorer for Minnesota. Imagine that.
On Friday, the Spurs return to Texas to take on the Chicago Bulls in what should be a winnable game for the young Silver and Black.
