Franz Wagner #22 of the Orlando Magic drives on Jeremy Sochan #10 of the San Antonio Spurs in the first half at Frost Bank Center on January 31, 2024 in San Antonio, Texas. Photo: Ronald Cortes / Getty Images Sport / Getty Images
The Spurs fell to the Orlando Magic at home on Wednesday night, 108-98. Rookie Victor Wembanyama recorded 21 points, eight rebounds, and five blocks in the losing effort. San Antonio is in last place in the Southwest Division at 10-and-38.
SPURS POSTGAME QUOTES:
Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich:
(On what he saw on the Spurs 15-0 run to get back into the game..)
"It's basketball. I mean you get back in games, you make some stops, you make some shots, maybe the other team doesn't make some shots. It's a 48-minute game, and it goes up and down. We had a good stretch. That group did a good job."
(On the size of Orlando and adjusting to it...)
"They're huge, they're strong, they're big. We're talking about 6'9, 6'10, 6'11 guys that are athletic. Just really impressive. Their bodies and how they move. And Coach Mosley has done a great job with them. They're playing the right way, they're sharing the basketball, playing with pace. Their defense put us in a hole. They really picked up their defense there in the third quarter and when it gets real physical like that, it's always a bit of a problem for us. And as you say, until we adjusted to it and understood that's what was happening, and we couldn't stand in cement, we had to move the ball better. But we have a tendency when we get down that. It's not a selfish thing. It's just an unwise thing [that] we're going to do it on our own. And we're not built like that right now. We've got to do it together.”
Spurs Guard Devin Vassell
(On their 3PT% shifting after starting 3-21...)
"I didn't know that we were 3-for-21. Yeah, just staying with it. [Coach Popovich] always preaches 48 minutes and that's what we did. Big shoutout to Blake Wesley for bringing the energy, getting back-to-back steals, just bringing the energy for us to get back into that fourth quarter. We got to play better in that third quarter. To many turnovers, dry possessions and just had them basically doing layup lines. It's tough to come back in the fourth quarter from down 20. We did a great job, obviously, cutting that lead back down and making it a game, but we kind of shot ourselves in the foot with that one."
(On the next step when shots aren't falling...)
"It makes it so much tougher when shots aren't going down. We're playing in transition a lot more. Like I said, it's tough. Despite us not shooting the ball that well, we were down, what, six, eight at halftime? And then that third quarter, [we] really just started turning it over and just weren't executing the game plan. That's what really, I feel like, everything changed."
Spurs Forward Victor Wembanyama
(On the impact of the fans on the game…)
“It definitely gets us going and helps with that momentum. This is why it's good to play at home in front of our people. People could have left once we were down 25, but they believe in us as much as we believe in ourselves. So, we got to keep going this way.”
(On how to cut down on their turnovers…)
“What can we do. We're at a point in the season where we learn a little bit about ourselves, but some of the 40-plus games, maybe, are catching up to us and we need to stay focused on every one of them. And because each game counts. We can't just not pay attention to this, because this has been one of if not our biggest problem all year.”