Jordan Clarkson #00 of the Utah Jazz drives for two against the San Antonio Spurs in the second half at Frost Bank Center on December 26, 2023 in San Antonio, Texas.Photo: Ronald Cortes / Getty Images Sport / Getty Images
The San Antonio Spurs are riding a five-game losing streak after Tuesday night's 130-118 home loss to the Utah Jazz. Keldon Johnson led the Spurs with 26 points. Devin Vassell added 22. The Spurs are now 4 and 25 on the season and have lost 5 straight. San Antonio is back in action on Thursday night when they play the Blazers in Portland.
SPURS POSTGAME QUOTES
Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich:
(On giving up 25 second chance points…)
“We are still searching for consistency. We're not consistent offensively or defensively. We go in spurts and really haven't matured enough to understand that winning an NBA game is difficult and calls for consistency. It’s a 48-minute game, and you can't be consistent on offense and execute on defense for 20 minutes of the game. You're not going to win that way. They've got a great player in Markkanen, they've got some older guys, 30, 31 years old that have been around. They’re mature, they’re physical. Will does a great job with them coaching, and they come after you for all 48. We still haven't figured that out yet. Part of it is youth, part of it is that I probably need to demand from certain people. It's time they have to be more consistent, or I make changes.”
(On Keldon Johnson tonight…)
“I thought he was good. I thought that worked out well. It was mostly our starting team. I think they let us down more than anything.”
(On Blake Wesley…)
“I thought Blake was great. He was physical, he stayed in front of people, he did a good job.”
Spurs Forward Jeremy Sochan
(On the third quarter energy tonight…)
“The energy, and I think everyone was active. We had a bunch of steals and deflections, we were playing fast, the way Blake [Wesley] was paying from the get-go. It was the energy, but there's 48 minutes in the game. You got to do it the whole time. The whole time.”
(On what Coach Popovich means by demanding consistency from the group…)
“I think we got to be on point. We always talk about being young, but there's a fine line with that. We got to be better. We got to be more active. We got to be quick with everything, and there's moments where we just don't do that as a team and even me. We got to be better with that.”
(On Keldon Johnson coming off the bench…)
“He's big time. I think it just shows who he is. It doesn't matter where you put him, he's going to play hard, he's going to do his thing, be him. That's the most important thing.”
Spurs Forward Victor Wembanyama
(on what has been holding the team back…)
“I don't know. If we knew what [it was] we would correct it right away. But there's plenty of reason to me, I think. I'm not going to count every reason, because there’s plenty of them.”
(on being limited due to ankle injury…)
“Of course. It's always painful to sit out and watch the guys play without you. But it's like I said before, we think about the long run. It's the first thing coach told me after I was told I was going to sit out was that my career is longer than that. It's bigger than just a game against Dallas. We're going to be smart.”