“I thought we fought. I thought we had good energy,” said coach Mitch Johnson.
SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Spurs beat the Atlanta Hawks at home 133-126 in overtime Thursday. They are now 1-0 against the Hawks this season.
Victor Wembanyama led the team with 42 points, six rebounds and five assists. Harrison Barnes had six points and two assists, and Chris Paul had 12 and eight assists.
Jeremy Sochan added 20 points, Devin Vassell recorded 23 and Julian Champagnie finished with eight points and four rebounds.
Head coach Gregg Popovich was out due to illness. Assistant coach Mitch Johnson assumed head coaching duties for the game.
The Spurs are 14-13 this season and will host the Trail Blazers on Saturday night.
Here’s a sample of what the teams said after the game.
Mitch Johnson:
“I thought we fought. I thought we had good energy. Thought the effort was great. I thought the low lights or the rough patches, was more decision-based, not effort-based. We can live with some of that stuff. We had some new combinations and new lineups out there tonight. That can be unique when you’re almost a third of the way through the season. So we had exhibited some patience, and I thought our effort carried us through some of those stretches.”
Wembanyama:
“It is the best feeling before the game. It felt like a big – a big relief, really. I think we were really happy because even before the game, I think some of my teammates were so questionable, you know, so, like, is it the day finally? It’s great to see everybody like that because we know everybody is going to get their chance, and there’s no selfish player, so we’re going to have a little fun together.”
“I think Mitch said something great in the locker room about we don’t have to say nothing. We got so many bodies. We can just rotate guys in or what not. So it’s great to have Tre (Jones) out there, to have Zach (Collins) back, all these guys because we just got such a young, vibrant team. young. We have a really good team, and I just hope we understand that we can be really good. We don’t have to wait till next year or the year after, like we need to be trying to win right now.”
“Everybody contributed to this game; whether you played two minutes or 48 minutes, it didn’t matter. Everybody contributed. That was a big-time win. Each game we’re building, each game we’re learning.”
Quin Snyder: