Here’s what Mitch Johnson and Stephon Castle said after the Spurs’ road loss to Portland.
SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Spurs lost to the Portland Trail Blazers on the road 120-109, led by Devin Vassell’s 21 points. San Antonio won the regular-season series against the Blazers 3-1. The team has also been officially eliminated from NBA postseason contention.
Stephon Castle scored 22 points and handed out five assists. Chris Paul had eight points and nine assists. Malaki Branham finished with 17 and four rebounds, and Bismack Biyombo recorded 10 points. Julian Champagnie finished with seven, and Keldon Johnson scored two.
The Spurs are 32-46 this season and will visit the Clippers on Tuesday night.
Here’s a sample of what the Spurs said after the game.
Mitch Johnson:
“In the first quarter when we spotted them (Blazers) those points and kind of fight your way out of that hole, then those things take more presence because those things happen. Every game ball goes that way. 50-50 call doesn’t go your way. Things happen. And I thought early on there were things we could have controlled or participated more in. And that’s frustrating. Then I thought we actually picked up our competitiveness, our resistance, just putting energy into the game. I don’t think we were at some point ever felt like we were not playing hard, but it did feel like at some point we weren’t playing with the energy or putting it into the right stuff. “
“Kind of gave them an early lead, too many easy buckets. They (Blazers) didn’t come out just firing threes. Just making a lot of threes. That’s how they got to the lead. I feel like we gave them a lot of easy buckets early and forced ourselves to have to get back in the game in the first quarter.”
Kris Murray: