“We got to execute our game plan all the way through, not just the first half,” said Devin Vassell following the Spurs’ loss to the Grizzlies.
SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Spurs lost at home to the Memphis Grizzlies 129-115 Wednesday night. San Antonio was outscored 43-25 in the third quarter en route to the loss versus Memphis.
Victor Wembanyama finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Harrison Barnes had 10, and Chris Paul had eight and five assists.
Devin Vassell recorded 21 and five rebounds, Keldon Johnson had 17 and four rebounds. Stephon Castle had 26, which was a new career-high in scoring. Julian Champagnie added nine.
Head coach Gregg Popovich was also out due to illness, and Jeremy Sochan was out due to back issues. Assistant coach Mitch Johnson continues to assume head coaching duties for the game.
The Spurs are 19-20 this season and will host the Grizzlies on Friday night.
Here’s a sample of what the teams said after the game.
Mitch Johnson:
“Transition defense is where it starts. They’re (Memphis) who they are, and that’s a big part of it. And then I thought we did a poor job guarding and when you get in the bonus early, again, as fast as they play and they made shots, it takes a lot to get to 43 (points). And so disappointed in that because I thought the first half we were pretty good. Just could not sustain it for 48 minutes tonight.”
“I’m super excited. I’m excited to play them again. I’m excited to take that challenge on. They’re a good team. Give credit where credit is due, they’re a good team, but I think that we’ll have the answer next time.”
“I just think we’ve just got to be better. We got to execute our game plan all the way through, not just the first half.”
“Got away from our game plan a little bit. Let guys get to their strong hands. That was something that we were kind of focused on, especially coming into the game. I thought we did a good job on it the first half, but I feel like we kind of let them (Memphis) touch the paint too much and get open threes, especially in transition, and I feel like that kind of spark sparked some run for them.”
Taylor Jenkins: