The San Antonio Spurs fell to the Orlando Magic in a close preseason game at the AT&T Center. Final score: Magic 102, Spurs 99. Doug McDermott lead the Spurs with 14 points. Devon Vassell had 11 points. Up next, the Spurs will host the Pelicans on Sunday night.
Postgame Reaction:
Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich
(On how the team competed after the Houston loss…)
“The Houston game is irrelevant. This is the second time you brought up Houston and I don’t care if we won, or lost, against Houston. All that matters is tonight, and the next game, and the next game. So, that doesn’t affect anything we’re doing today. But of course, they competed well. We turned it over too much. 35 points off turnovers and that’s going to make it tough … A lot of guys played better than the other night; we were more physical. We moved better on offense, so I thought they got better.”
(On Keita stretching the floor…)
“You’re exactly right. We want him to shoot those shots. When he first came here, he wouldn’t have done that. Or if he did, he probably wouldn’t have made it. But he’s obviously getting more confident and getting it off quickly and knows when he is open. He did a fine job tonight.”
(On Blake Wesley’s aggressiveness in the second half...)
“That’s what he does best. He attacks the trim and gets by people. He’s got to work on his decision making. He’s an aggressive ball player.”
(On Malaki Branham...)
“He’s got a great pace about him. Real comfortable on the court. He is doing well.”
Spurs Forward Doug McDermott
(On Keita Bates-Diop…)
“He’s so versatile. He can defend one through five. He’s got those long arms. And now he can hit threes. I think he’s so valuable for what we’re trying to do. The way Pop likes to coach with switching a lot of stuff up, he’s so good to have out there. Just a hell of a teammate too. He’s a really good guy, comes in and works hard every day.”
(On Blake Wesley and Malaki Branham settling in…)
“Those guys aren’t scared, that’s for sure. I think that’s half the battle as a rookie. These guys come in and they’re aggressive. So, that’s a good sign right there. And they’re both going to be really good pros. The game is probably going a little fast for them right now. I think when the game slows down for them, they’re going to be really good. We did a great job drafting this year because all these guys know how to play.”
(On having the second-most field goals tonight…)
“I’m not the kind of guy to be selfish. I want to be as unselfish as possible. But at times as a shooter, you have to be aggressive and make your mark on the game. That’s what I’m here for, to try and get shots and try to create for others. I think by the way I move around out there, gets other guys shots. If I can come into the game with that mentality, to just run around and if I’m open, I’m going to shoot it. If not, I’m going to get someone else a shot. That’s what I’m going to try to do all year. I think it’s just going to benefit everyone on the floor.”
Spurs Forward Keita Bates-Diop
(On his confidence growing…)
“Definitely. I worked a lot on it this summer. He has confidence in me shooting and I have confidence in myself shooting it.”
(On his defensive energy…)
“I think that’s part of the reason Pop trusts me to be in there. He trusts me with my length to be able to do a lot of things.”
(On playing next to Jakob…)
“It helps a lot. If we make mistakes on the ball, Jakob is always there on the back side protecting us. He gives us confidence to pressure the ball. So we know if we do get beat, he’s right behind us.”
MAGIC POSTGAME QUOTES
Magic Head Coach Jamahl Mosley
(On how the Magic responded…)
“Exactly that. I think they did a very good job with you know understanding getting down early but not hanging their heads, understanding how we needed them to play in order to get ourselves back in the game and that was obviously the defensive side of the ball. And then the ball movement, obviously. The ball touching everybody’s hands and not being afraid to attack the basket and find an open man.”
(On early foul trouble disrupting offense…)
“Well, that’s a continued area we’re going to need to work on and obviously we talked about the last game we put them on the line 34 times tonight we had you know we put them on the line 26 times, so were going to continue to work on that to get better how we can defend and protect the rim without fouling.”
(On Franz Wagner and Wendell Carter Jr. having experience playing together...)
“Well, it’s such a positive. I think they do a great job of reading and playing off of each other. Obviously, Wendell found a good rhythm out there and Franz being able to facilitate, them trying to get Paolo involved in the actions as well was a really good thing to see and they have such a great feel for one another, and they are going to continue to build that.”
(On Paolo going downhill...)
“I really loved him getting downhill, putting pressure on the rim understanding certain reads certain decisions in the pick and roll putting the ball in his hands and allowing him to make plays downhill, because you know he should be able to get to that rim on a consistent basis and he’s looking for different areas but he’s also looking to make the right lead.”
Magic Center Wendell Carter Jr.
(On the group responding to slow start...)
“You know it’s just about going out there having swag and playing. The game is just a game, and I feel like you know no matter how we start off. It’s always about how we finish games. Of course, we want a better start to games, but I feel like we did a really good job of just continuing to play no matter what happened,. Even though we were down, we still had fun. I feel like that the most important thing for us, especially as a young group.”
(On Franz holding people accountable…)
“That’s our next step as a young team. Being able to hold each other accountable whether you like it or not. That’s something that we want to go into the season with a lot of focus on. Like I said, Franz is a winner, he plays to win on both ends of the court.”
Magic Forward Franz Wagner
(On the team turning things around…)
“I don’t think we did anything special. We just had a better energy about it, more effort on defense and then we had a couple of easy ones on offence, and we just executed a little bit better.”