Here’s what Mitch Johnson, Stephon Castle, De’Aaron Fox and Keldon Johnson had to say after the Spurs’ loss to Houston.
SAN ANTONIO — On their Rodeo Trip, the San Antonio Spurs lost to the Houston Rockets 118-106. The Spurs are now 3-8 on the extended road trip.
De’Aaron Fox finished with seven points and three rebounds. Keldon Johnson finished with 22 points. Chris Paul had four and four assists.
Devin Vassell recorded nine and five rebounds, and Jeremy Sochan added seven and five rebounds before exiting the game after a fall on his head. Stephon Castle finished with 22, and Julian Champagnie added 11. Harrison Barnes recorded three.
Victor Wembanyama will miss the remainder of the season due to deep vein thrombosis, and Charles Bassey did not play due to an ankle injury.
The Spurs are 24-33 this season and will take on the Grizzlies on Saturday night to conclude the Rodeo Trip.
Here’s a sample of what the teams said after the game.
Mitch Johnson:
“It didn’t feel like there was a real level of resistance. First, they (Houston) made some shots. Wasn’t like it was seven dunks in a row. Jabari Smith had to turn around. (Dillion) Brooks had a couple threes, but there’s some level resistance; sometimes we just feel like, are you feeling them? Do they feel us? You know, and things like that, and that first six or seven sessions just didn’t feel like it.”
“We kind of killed ourselves giving them (Houston) offensive rebounds. I feel like just giving them those easy buckets, it’s always hard to learn and grow. So giving them easy buckets like that, that early kind of sparked their rhythm in the first quarter. So that kind of set the tone for how they were going to play the rest of the game.”
“I think they were just scoring too easily. I mean that’s not even a team that really puts up points like that. You know they focus more on their defense and turning teams over, but we didn’t have any resistance to start the game.”
Keldon Johnson:
“I think the vibes have been good. We know we have got to continue to pick it up and continue to put an emphasis on the things that we need to work on, but it’s been a solid trip. Definitely wish we could have won some more games, but I feel like we are learning and heading in the right direction.”
Ime Udoka:
Amen Thompson: