Spurs Edged By Grizzlies 99-97

The Memphis Grizzlies edged the San Antonio Spurs 99 to 97 on Friday night. Victor Wembanyama led the Spurs with 31 points. San Antonio is now 15 and 55 on the season and will be back in action tonight against the Phoenix Suns. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.

SPURS POSTGAME QUOTES

 

Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich:  

(On Memphis coming back in the game…)

“People go up on people all through the league. Teams with the worst records, teams with the best records go up 15-20 [points] and lose leads. That happens in the NBA all the time. So, it's not a matter of did they lose their energy or whatever. It's a matter of maybe you turned it over. Maybe you went dry, and you couldn't make a shot. The team made some shots. They were 6-for-13 [from three] in the second quarter. We were 1-for-10. So, the game changes. That's what the three-point shot will do for you. But we can't have that combination of 20 points off turnovers that we gave them, and we shot 18% from three. If you hold the team to 99 [points], you should win a lot of games. But if you give up 20 points on turnovers and shoot 18%, it's going to make it tough on you. End of story. It’s got nothing to do with a play here, a play there. It's about the whole thing together.”

  

Spurs Guard Tre Jones

(On how the game ended…)

“It’s something we’ve struggled with all year when we get a lead, especially a big one like we had tonight. It was just maintaining the lead, to continue staying as aggressive as we do to get the lead where it is, and just continuing the aggression, our hunger, everything that got us the lead. For the majority of the year, obviously, we’re in dogfights or climbing back into games, things like that. So tonight, when it’s flipped like that and we have the lead, we got to get used to being able to maintain what got us that lead. Even though we shot whatever it was, 16% from three, even when shots aren’t falling like that, they weren’t hitting that many shots either. Second quarter, they hit some shots, but they only scored [43 points in the half]. So, we got to just make sure we continue to battle on the offensive end and get good looks. And then defensively, continue to take a stand on that and not loosen up just because we’re not hitting shots.” 

(On having close finishes in games…)

“We always keep fighting until the clock hits zero. We will never give up no matter what. It's almost like we play better when we're in those situations. Like I said, we got to be able to have that type of focus, have that type of mindset that we have when we're losing, when we build these leads, no matter the team we're playing. If it's a good team that has superstars everywhere, if it's a team that's banged up and has to go grab some guys, whether it's from the G league or guys who aren't really playing a lot right now. We got to continue to have the right mindset at all times, to be focused, don't look at who we're playing at, continue to just work on the things that we need to work on for the long run. Knowing that at some point, this thing is going to flip and we're going to be a team that gets used to winning and gets used to having a target on our back. So until then, we just got to stay focused and try to stay consistent every single night.”

 

Spurs Forward Victor Wembanyama

(On what kind of night it was for him…)

“I think it was a weird game. But, at the same time, we held them below 100 [points],but we also had below 100 as well. They had some good shooting moments, and sometimes not. I think it was a weird game. We didn't take advantage of the holes they had. I don't know if we did everything we could, I don’t think so.” 

(On the mindset and aggression to score 30-plus points tonight…)

"I remember having a thought in the first half when we were up by a lot, I didn't put the nail in the coffin. That is how I felt. I wanted to have a reaction, because it doesn't matter who's in front of us, we have to be the same pace, same way, and be as aggressive. So, I wanted to be as aggressive as if it was [Joel] Embiid or Giannis [Antetokounmpo] in front of us. So yeah, I did have a reaction when this happened, mistakes I won't do again."