Jeremy Sochan #10 of the San Antonio Spurs dunks against the Atlanta Hawks in the first half at Frost Bank Center on November 30, 2023 in San Antonio, Texas. Photo: Ronald Cortes / Getty Images Sport / Getty Images
The San Antonio Spurs are riding a 13-game losing streak after Thursday night's 137-135 loss to the Atlanta Hawks at the Frost Bank Center. Atlanta is sitting ninth in the Eastern Conference at 9-and-9. Jeremy Sochan led San Antonio with 33 points. Keldon Johnson and Victor Wembanyama both had double-doubles. The Spurs have slipped to 3-and-15 for the season. They take on the New Orleans Pelicans tonight on the road. Tipoff is at 7 p.m.
SPURS POSTGAME QUOTES:
Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich:
(On if the final call of the game was accurate and valid…)
“Looked like it. He looked pretty stationary to me. I’d have to look at the tape, but from what I saw, he was stationary.”
(On what the team can learn from the last minute and a half of the game…)
“There are things all night long that we can learn from. Their competitiveness was great. Their execution is better all the time, but you get to fourth quarters [and] the great players take over. That's been difficult for us. Tre [Jones] had his way there in the third quarter and down the stretch, making plays for us. It's going to be more difficult than some other teams for a variety of reasons. But their character is great, and I said their competitiveness is off the charts. We just have to keep working in a lot of different areas. Even if the best teams in the league are working on the same thing; less turnovers, better rebounding, better shots, all that kind of stuff. It's not one thing.”
(On what he saw from Jeremy Sochan’s personal game…)
“I thought he had maybe his best night. Made a lot of good decisions, moved the ball. Guarding Trae Young is not easy. So, I thought he was wonderful.”
Spurs Forward Julian Champagnie
(On improving his shooting…)
“Just kept shooting, practicing, staying aggressive, getting in the gym [and] taking shots I know I can make. Staying out of my own head has been the biggest thing for me.”
(On the ball movement…)
“I think when we want to, we do it. I think that’s the biggest part. We got to come in every night and just say we’re going to move the ball and we're going to play together and we’re going to play as a team. I think for the most part, we do that. Sometimes guys get missed, that’s a part of the game. For the most part, we do it, but tonight I think it was just another night of us saying we want to win a game, and we always say we want to win games.”
(On the teams’ confidence in Jeremy Sochan playing PG)
“I’m always confident in Jeremy. I think for his first time playing point guard, he’s doing an excellent job. I don’t think there’s really any other answer for it. He’s doing a good job. He’s doing the best he can and I’m proud of him and I know we’re all proud of him.”
Spurs Guard Jeremy Sochan
(On how he feels about his game…)
“It was an all-around performance. There are things I could have done better, but I think overall was a pretty good game.”
(About his rhythm tonight…)
“Just control what I can control, and the game will come to you. Play defense, play with energy, see the floor, communicate with my teammates and you get rewarded for that.”
Spurs Forward Victor Wembanyama
(On what the team could have done differently…)
“Of course, taking care of the ball in the second half. Attacking their weak spots more. Of course, we gave them 137 points. It’s hard to win when the opposing team scores that much, so we need to step it up on defense.”
(On defending Hawks Guard Trae Young…)
“Especially in the first half, they were making a lot of threes. There’s always the lob threat with [Clint] Capela. It’s a very good offensive team. There are so many things we need to guard. To be honest, we still need to be 100% focused on the scouting report for the whole game. At the end, we suffered from it.”