The San Antonio Spurs lost to the Dallas Mavericks 113-107 on Tuesday evening. Victor Wembanyama finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds, and six blocks in the losing effort. San Antonio is in last place in the Southwest Division at 15-and-54. The home stand continues on Friday night against the Memphis Grizzlies. Tipoff at Frost Bank Center is at 7 p.m.
SPURS POSTGAME QUOTES
Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich:
(On what the team learned from this game…)
“You learn lots of things in the game. But it doesn't matter who you're playing, you learn stuff. If you beat somebody by 20, you lose by 20, there are things that you're going to work on because it's a game of mistakes. So, there's all kinds of things you learn at both ends of the court.”
(On the team defense on Luka Doncic…)
“We outrebounded them, we shot better than they did, we outscored them in the third quarter, we outscored them in the fourth quarter [and] we had the same number of assists, basically, but we had 16 turnovers. That's the difference in the game. I couldn't be more proud of the way we played. We made all kinds of mistakes, but so did they and they want to win a championship. Our goal is to get better every game individually and team-wise, and they did that. I'm really proud of what they did. So, that's the bottom line nothing else to it. They busted their ass and played to win. Can't ask for anything else.”
Spurs Guard Tre Jones
(On what Jeremy Sochan has learned defensively…)
“I think the main thing is just discipline. Right away, you can be antsy or want to go for every fake or block a shot as bad as you want. He's a tough player. He has great moves. I think him just being patient with it, not going for every fake. Being smart is the main thing for sure. Just watching more film, understanding the game, learning it more and more. Picking up on people's tendencies, how they play the game I think is something that he's doing really well as well. We see that you know, night in and night out with the way he's defending these players.”
(On Victor Wembanyama’s defense affecting the team…)
“That definitely gives us lot of confidence, and we feel that though. You feel when you can pressure a guy full court or turn his back a few times and just know that when you follow them to the hoop, you know you have the best shot-blocker in the world behind you blocking everything or altering their shot. It gives you that confidence to play as hard as you can on the defensive end and continue to try to push up into guys and make their lives miserable. Because when they get to the hoop, it's no easier.”
(On his three-point shooting improvement…)
“Me and Jimmy [Baron] are in the gym almost every single day working on the jump shot, trying to do everything we can to continue to grow it in every way possible and continue to build that confidence. Knowing that the talent that we have, those shots are going to be open. Just got to knock them down. But yeah, it's been great working with him so far. It's been a short time looking at the big picture things but put in a ton of work. He's someone that I can joke around with. Love working with him. We are doing great stuff and can't wait to continue to work.”
Spurs Guard Devin Vassell
(On Jeremy Sochan’s defensive improvements…)
“He takes pride in that. He's moving his feet way better, he's beating them to the spot, he's contesting, he's just being a pest. I mean, he was picking up full court basically the whole game. That's what we need from [Jeremy Sochan]. I feel like that gets him really into the game when he's being a pest like that on defensive end and crashing the offensive glass. I feel like when he's doing that, those are games where he's always going crazy, and he just brings that energy. Between him and Blake, they're always competing on the defensive end, and we just need more, more from everybody else too.”
(On Blake Wesley's progress on defense…)
“From day one, I knew Blake was coming. He's always had energy. Training camp, summer league, whenever it was, he was always picking up full court and turning people. Just being a pest on the defensive end. He's always been like that, and that's the energy that we need from him. He's been making strides on the offensive end too, but defensively, he's always been kind of that anchor.”