The Spurs are on a two-game win streak and looking to build on it without getting comfortable.
SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Spurs started the season 5-0 and looked primed to win six in a row against the Suns.
But a sixth-straight win was not meant to be as the Suns crushed the Spurs 130-118, and their win streak came to an end.
Following the loss, guard Stephon Castle was blunt, saying the team got “comfortable” during their hot start.
“I feel like we were starting to get a little comfortable, so this is kind of a wake-up call for us,” he said after the Nov. 2 loss in Phoenix.
Fast forward through a two-game losing skid, and the Spurs are on a new winning streak at two straight and a possible third win in a row if the team can get past the Bulls on the road.
But this time, Castle will be looking for the team to avoid getting comfortable once again.
“We’re going to have to fight it, especially if we want to have the season that we’ve been talking about. We’re going to have to fight that,” he said.
The Spurs have a tough stretch of games starting with the Bulls on Monday night, followed by a two-game set against the Warriors if they want to extend this current win streak.
“Hopefully our intensity level doesn’t drop off and we’re looking ahead to next week.”
Castle understands that it was just “human nature” for the team to feel comfortable with its franchise-record 5-0 start to the season. The team was winning close games (an overtime win in New Orleans), stemming a furious Nets comeback to hold on to a win, and beating a battle-tested Heat team at home.
But as the second-year guard realized, all that winning can be taken away in an instant.
“Just seeing how well we were playing and then it all getting taken away in one game. You kind of felt the energy drop,” he said.
In the team’s last two wins, the Spurs have seemingly bounced back after going through a two-game slide. The team put up 120-plus points and held their previous two opponents to an average of 114.5 points per game.
“I think at this point you just take it game by game,” Harrison Barnes said. “I don’t think you’re necessarily trying to build a streak as much as it is. We’re trying to just build consistent habits.”
However, the veteran forward cautions that even though the team has won its last two outings, there is still a standard the team needs to reach.
Said Barnes, “Although we won the games now, I don’t think necessarily it was the style of play or the standard that we wanted to play at, but it’s a learning experience for us.”
It is a long season, and there will be more losses and wins ahead. For San Antonio, they will be looking to pile up the wins, but if the team does face a losing streak, Castle believes the team will know how to deal with it after snapping their recent slide.
“Guys weren’t having their heads down in the locker room. We knew what we did wrong, so we came out the next night and got it done,” he said.