Spurs Top Bucks 111-93

The San Antonio Spurs beat the Milwaukee Bucks 111-93 on Friday night. Keldon Johnson led the Spurs with 29 points. Devin Vassell added 22 points. Jeremy Sochan had 15 points, Jakob Poeltl and Doug McDermott each had 10 points to give the Spurs five players in double-figures

POSTGAME REAX:

Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich

(On Bucks being undermanned…)

“I don’t care. We’re missing a couple of guys, too. They’re missing Giannis, but the people were missing are just as important to us as Giannis is to them. But they’re also missing some pretty important guys. We’re aware of that. We’re humble. We loved the win. It was great. Our guys played great. It’s a good group and of course they were undermanned like crazy, but you go out and you play whoever's out there. They came to win. They’re deep, obviously, well coached, and they got a great shot to go get this thing done.” 

(On getting young guys to lock in on defense...)

“You keep Giannis off the court and don’t play Middleton, and they got this point guard that's pretty good. I can’t remember his name. I talked to Keldon after the game about having the same mentality and giving the defense the same respect you give the offense. Everybody likes to have the basketball, but that's not what wins. That’s why Milwaukee, I think, they’re number one in defense in the NBA and that's what it takes. When we’ve won championships, we’re always first, second or third in defense and those periods in the game where it just won’t go down, that's what sustains you and gives you the opportunity to win. Obviously, the Bucks know that, so that's why they’re so good.”

(On Charles Bassey..)

“He was something else today. He just seems to – he just plays. He doesn't know what the hell we’re doing, but he’s catching up quickly on plays and what we’re doing. He plays the game hard. He knows his role, he rebounds, he blocks shots, he runs the floor, and he does it with a lot of energy. He and Jakob [Poeltl] have been a good pair in that regard, because they both are very solid.”

(On Jeremy Sochan…)

“He doesn't have any fear. He’s not impressed with the NBA or anything like that. He just comes to play. He just loves the game. You can just see it on his face, you can see his body language. He loves being out there competing, and he does a great job of it.”

Spurs Forward Keldon Johnson

(On taking care of business with Bucks being undermanned...)

“We lost a couple of games in a row. I feel like the last few games, especially, we’ve been starting off slow. We had to come off ready to go. They came off a tough win in [Oklahoma City], and we knew we couldn't feel like we we’re just going to walk into a win. We knew they were going to come out. They still have good players. They want a championship. We knew that they know how to win, so we knew that if we came out lackadaisical that it could be a long night for us. We came out ready to play and ready to take care of business. We stayed together, and we played basketball like we always do.”  

(On chemistry with the team and being efficient with passing …)

“To be honest, the truth is that we know we need each other to win. When we go out there, and we look to the left, look to the right, we don't have any quote-on-quote superstars. We need each other to win and be successful. We totally bought into that. There's no egos is something that we accept. We move the ball and play with each other, and we know the best for us to win. When we've had our best success is just sharing the ball and making it easy for each other, because when you’re playing that way, it's always fun. Even if we don't win majority of our games, even if we lose some tough ones, we stick to what we know and that's to win and share the ball and play with each other. As long as we do that, I’m 100% confident that we can play with anybody in the league and that we’ll be in good shape and we will have lots of chance to win games.”

(On Charles Bassey catching on very quickly…)

“Charles is a great kid. He plays hard, plays his heart out. Rebounding, blocking shots, doing the things that we need in order to be successful. He brung that spark, and he's been playing well. We just keep believing in him, and we’re confident that he’ll come in night-in and night-out and do what he's capable of doing.”

Spurs Center Charles Bassey

(On being in rotation with the Spurs tonight…)

“This is a perfect spot. This is a young team. I’m still learning a lot while I’m out there. I wish I started preseason training camp with them, but everything is going smooth now. I am just so grateful for my team. Every day I learn new plays. I am watching film with the coaches. I am doing all that I can to just help this team win and play as hard as I can every night.”

(On how he has integrated with the team in such a short amount of time…)

“I’ve dreamed of playing for Pop. He’s the kind of coach that you go out there and play hard for. He’s so calm if we’re winning or if we’re losing. He says the right words. He says the right things to the players. It just makes you want to go out there and go crazy in the game. Just being a part of this team is a blessing.”