The San Antonio Spurs fell to the Memphis Grizzlies in overtime on Wednesday night, 124-122 in overtime. Devin Vassell and Jakob Poeltl both had 22 points to lead the Spurs.
POSTGAME REAX:
Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich
(Opening Statement…)
“Great game. I thought our guys were fantastic against a heck of a basketball team. They’re hard to guard. They've proven that they're a hell of a squad, experienced. Taylor does a great job coaching them. They got a great thing going. To play them the way we did tonight feels really good. You're always disappointed when you lose but so many good things. These guys are growing and playing the way they need to play to win. So, it was a good night.”
(On Keldon Johnson and Devin Vassell not being afraid to take shots...)
“Keldon had the one and then Devin had the other one. Those are our guys. That's what you do. You go to your go to guys whenever you can. They got great opportunities. Michael [Jordan] didn't make every shot at the end of the game either. Just seems like it because that's what they show. So, that's the way it goes.”
(On the key to clicking defensively tonight...)
“We played hard, we communicated very well defensively and in the second half, we rebounded. We got beat really good in the first half. That really hurt us, but we did a much better job of that in the second half.”
(On making rebounding adjustments against a team like Memphis with a guy like Steven Adams...)
“It's just a matter of being aware of it, staying as physical as you possibly can, other guys on the court gang rebounding, because you know Jakob can't do it by himself. So, it's a matter of getting as many guys to the board as you possibly can.”
Spurs Guard Devin Vassell
(On not hitting the game-winning shot…)
“I’m living with that. Keldon and I put in so much work in this summer. We’ve developed and have stepped into bigger roles. This is what we asked for. We come down the stretch, and I had no problem with Keldon taking that shot, and he had no problem with me taking that shot. It’s all in building confidence and building trust. We’re a young team. To play against the Grizzles, who is a great team, and to be able to fight like that and go into overtime with them is great. We had two shots that were right there. It just shows a testament to our team and how hard we’ve been battling. We’re right there. We just have to stay together. We got a big game on Friday. I’m looking forward to that.”
(On how the team came together despite the loss…)
“We’re fighters. That’s the biggest thing we can take from this game. We’re fighting day in and day out. We might not have the talent that other teams have, but we’re competitive. We’re playing defense. We’re diving on the floor. We got a couple of loose and jump balls. At the end of the day, we’re going to compete. As long as we’re competing and playing with each other, I like our chances.”
(On maintaining focus and morale through the losses…)
“I don’t think we came into this season thinking that we were going to be undefeated. At the end of the day, you win some and you lose some. As long as we’re competing each and every game, we’re getting better. As you see, we are getting better out there. We’re 12 games in. By the time we’re 20, 30, 40 games in, we can flip that switch. We’re all coming into bigger roles. The fact that we’re competing the way we are right now, it’s huge for us. We’re going to take it to the next step. We just have to be patient.”
Spurs Center Jakob Poeltl
(On being in a possession-by-possession game…)
“We have to learn from these experiences. We haven’t been in this position a lot. We have a lot of guys that haven’t had the ball in their hands down the stretch in a game like this. So, every time we can get in a situation like this one, we can get better from it. I think that this is great for the future. “
(On Keldon Johnson and Devin Vassell being the go-to guys…)
“We’re looking for them every time. In regulation and in overtime. We are making up a play for either one of them. We’ll win or lose by those shots and next time, it’ll drop.”
(On Jeremy Sochan guarding Steven Adams…)
“Jeremy takes on any challenge he can find, no matter who it is. It might be his matchup or somebody across the court. He’s just out there looking for a challenge and for trouble. But I like it. He’s got that fighting spirit. It’s good for him to get the experience to guard a guy like Adams. He did a great job tonight, defensively. He got a lot of deflections, and he was very active.”