The Orlando Magic were outscored in every quarter as the San Antonio Spurs opened the season with a 127-97 win. The Spurs were led by Devin Vassell with 19 points. Lonnie Walker added 17, Derrick White 16, Dejounte Murray and Keldon Johnson each had 15 points. Doug McDermott and Jakob Poeltl had 12 points each. Poeltl also picked up 13 rebounds. The Spurs are back in action on Friday against the Denver Nuggets.
Postgame Comments:
Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich:
(On switching to a full-court press…)
“I thought we were playing soft, and we needed to jack up the energy. More than the energy, physicality. So we went to the press, and it helped us out a little bit. It got their attention.”
(On Devin Vassell…)
“Devin has had a great camp. It’s been obvious that he shot the ball well, but he’s got great length. The more he focuses on defense, he can really be a disrupter. You see him sticking his hands in, here and there, and that kind of thing, creating a crowd helping his teammates. He can end up being a very good defender for us.”
Spurs Guard Devin Vassell:
(On the team’s energy…)
“That’s the energy we want to play with. That’s the team comradery we want to play with. Seven people scored in double figures, I think that’s the type of team that we have. Any given night anybody could be our leading scorer, but it’s not about that, it’s about playing with energy. And that’s contagious. Once we got out in the second half and starting getting steals and turnovers, the whole momentum of the game changed and we really started feeding off of that.”
(On the atmosphere and fans…)
“I had goosebumps going out there. You hit a shot, hit a three and (the fans) go crazy. That’s the atmosphere that I wanted so bad last year and we just didn’t have it. So for them to come out like they did, that’s special. I really appreciate our fans.”
Magic Head Coach Jamahl Mosley:
(On what the team could’ve done better…)
“I think our ability to come back to switching. They went into switching and kind of threw us off a little bit. So just our ability to move the basketball a little faster as well as making sure we get the right shot on offense so that it doesn’t lead to a transition basket on the other end. Just being able to combat the switching and take care of the basketball.”
Magic Center Wendell Carter Jr.:
(On what the team could’ve done better…)
“First thing was turnovers. We had way too many turnovers as a group. Like that, it doesn’t matter who we play, we aren’t going to win. A lot of turnovers, a lot of live ball turnovers to where they’re running and we’re all over the place having to scramble. On the defensive end, turnovers lead to transition. Our transition to defense was not good tonight. They had a lot of open threes in transition, which we have to limit. Knowing that almost all their guards can shoot, just knowing that and being able to matchup in transition, take care of the rim and kind of fan out from there. I feel like we have to do a better job of that.”