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The San Antonio Spurs are riding a two-game winning streak after beating the Indiana Pacers at home on Sunday night, 117-105. Rookie Victor Wembanyama led all scorers with 31 points to go along with a game-high 12 rebounds for a double-double. He also tied for a team-high in assists with six. The Spurs are in last place in the Southwest Division at 13-and-48. They're on the road on Tuesday night against the Houston Rockets. Tipoff at Toyota Center is at 7 p.m.
SPURS POSTGAME QUOTES
Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich:
(On setting the tone early on…)
“We played a good first quarter. Game goes up and down. Both teams missed a lot of shots in the first quarter. Nobody could put it in the hole really. The best part of the game was being in the fourth quarter and standing up to their run, when they were ahead, when they cut it to four, whatever it was. We kept our composure and continued to execute. That was the best part of the game. Obviously, Victor [Wembanyama] was special in a lot of ways, but he can't do it by himself. The team defense was very good. We had 33 assists again, which is great.”
(On the team’s execution down the stretch…)
“It starts with the defense. You got to play the D. You got to board to get the ball. But after that, I thought we kept our composure. We ran only a couple of plays down the stretch over and over again, for obvious reasons, and we got some good cuts. We got some free throws. They did a good job.”
Spurs Forward Keldon Johnson
(On what got him going in the second half…)
“Honestly, it’s really my teammates. We just played the right way. That's my main thing. The main focus is to keep playing the right way [and] keeping up good habits. Tonight, the ball came to me in the second half, and I was ready. That was the main thing. Stay ready and when opportunity arose, I was ready.”
(On their composure down the stretch…)
“We are just trying to build good habits. We continue to stick together. We lose them together and we win them together. You learn important things when you lose a lot of close games, and we're starting to piece it together. But this is just the beginning. I feel like we just got to keep growing, keep listening to our coaches, keep watching film and keep correcting things that we can control going forward.”
Spurs Forward Victor Wembanyama
(On setting the tone early on…)
“We were ready to match their speed, the fastest team in the league. We learn and we compete every game, but now we execute better. This is the difference.”
(On the kind of leader he wants to be…)
“For me, the obvious answer is always be a leader by example first. I believe in those guys as much as they believe in me, so it's really a beneficial relationship. We know what we have, we know where we want to go, and we're going to trust each other. As much as I can, I've tried to lift my teammates up every time.”
Spurs Forward Jeremy Sochan
(On building off these current games…)
“I think every game matters. You learn something from every game, whether it’s good or bad. Again, as we’ve always said, it’s a process. Every day we just want to learn, grow. Whether it’s in film, practice, treatment, understanding our bodies, in the weight room, games, after games. It’s important to learn and grow together. These last twenty games, whatever, how many games do we have? (21) Every game matters, no matter if we’re in the playoffs or not.”
(On the difference in their composure…)
“I think it all comes down to communication and just acknowledging [and] understanding what kind of situation we are in and what is happening in the present. Just talking about it, get to certain plays that we know we're going to get success from. Defensively locking in, talking on screens on who's in help. It’s important to communicate in those type of times and keep your composure in that way.”