Photo: Ronald Cortes / Getty Images Sport / Getty Images
The San Antonio Spurs are riding a four-game losing streak after Thursday night's 125-121 home loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. Devin Vassell led the Spurs with 34-points in the losing effort, while rookie Victor Wembanyama dropped 27 and was one rebound shy of a double-double. San Antonio is in last place in the Southwest Division at 5-and-29. The Spurs are on the road against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday. Tipoff at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse is at noon.
SPURS POSTGAME QUOTES
Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich:
(On the game…)
“Great game. I couldn't be more proud of the group. We did a lot of great things and a lot of people played well.”
(On the Spurs final play…)
“What I wanted was a different call on the last play where Giannis got a 3-point play. But sometimes the calls go for you, sometimes they go against you and you got to live with it. But that was a tough one to get that call at the very end of the game when our guys were right there. So, you live with it. You move on. That’s the way it is.”
Spurs Forward Victor Wembanyama
(On the last play of the game…)
"The design was to fake going for a pick-and-roll, but for actually going to a three for Devin and see what happens. But we had to put up a shot, and I think we put up [a shot] at the end of the possession; the best shot we could expect from a moment like this. Of course, the outcome isn't what we wanted, but it was the widest open shot, so it's positive. We're satisfied with the outcome of the play except the ball not going through the rim."
(On the matchup against him and Giannis Antetokounmpo…)
"[He's] Somebody that I grew up watching and one of the greatest players of in the world, so it's always extra motivation. I'm a competitor, so I want to go at everyone and be the 'bad guy' on the court. It was a great matchup."
(On the feeling of today's game…)
"Today was a satisfying point to me. We really had a rhythm at some points. Just the fact that we could compete with a championship-level team like this is promising. It's also the first thing Pop told us coming back to the locker room. We had some moments where everything seemed to work out. I could also feel the crowd believing in us and getting going."
Spurs Forward Keldon Johnson
(On the difference tonight in the team’s third quarter…)
“Just executing. I feel like we just had to bear down. We tied it up in the third quarter. Teams always make runs and it's hard for us to respond. So hopefully we can look at what we did in the third quarter and replicate it in games going forward.”
(On the Bucks’ defense being the deciding factor…)
“They’re a great defensive team. We got a wide-open three in the corner, one of the most high-percentage threes you could take. Just so happened Tre [Jones] missed the shot, but it's a great shot. It's wide open. So, I'm satisfied with the wide-open look. Tre didn’t make it, but we believe in him to make that shot. That's why he's on the court toward the end of the game. We had chances to tie it up. We had two good looks, and they just didn't fall. Just didn't go our way. We live to fight another day. We're going to continue to stay together, continue to fight together. We're going to continue to win together and continue to lose together. Just staying together as a team, that's what we're going to focus on and hopefully some of the games fall our way. But if not, we will continue to stay together and continue to do the things that we can do to put us in the right position to win basketball games.”
Spurs Guard Devin Vassell
(On the last play of the game…)
“I got it, went to Tre, [Victor Wembanyama] was supposed to set a screen. They ended up switching it and kind of doubling it, so I passed it to Vic. It was like they stunted at Vic, and Tre was wide open in the corner. I've seen Tre knock down that shot multiple times. Told him to keep his head up, because at the end of the day, he's wide open so shoot the ball. That's a good look for us. (cont.) I definitely wanted to get the shot. Of course. I'm not even going to sit here and be like, ‘I didn't want to get it.’ If it was perfect, it would have happened. That's not the NBA. That's not basketball. So, I feel like I made a good read to Vic, somebody stunted at Vic, Tre was wide open in the corner. We got a good look. Shoot, we lived through Giannis [Antetokounmpo] shooting two threes back-to-back and he hit them. I would live with Giannis shooting those threes compared to him getting to the basket every time.”
(On the key to his performance tonight…)
“I think just staying aggressive. I think there's times when I might miss two or three shots and I shy away and don't be aggressive. At the end of the day, the team needs me to be aggressive. I say this all the time. My coaches and teammates always put me in positions, and Tre was finding me today; Vic, [Keldon Johnson], Jeremy [Sochan], everybody was finding me tonight. And when somebody has the hot hand like that, you just got to find them and that's what they were doing.”