The San Antonio Spurs are focused on recovery and adjustments after a 116-104 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in their season opener on Tuesday. Coach Mitch Johnson said the team followed the defeat with a productive practice and film sessions before heading to Austin for Friday’s game against the Houston Rockets at the Moody Center.
Johnson acknowledged the Spurs didn’t meet their standards in a game where Oklahoma City’s experience exposed their weaknesses. “We all participated in just not playing up to our standard in a clean game,” he said Thursday afternoon. “When you play someone with the class of OKC, they’ll expose that pretty readily and consistently. We had some good film and a good cleanup on the court and we’re looking forward to having a good shootaround Friday morning and getting back on the court tomorrow night.”
The Spurs are dealing with injuries to two players listed as questionable ahead of Friday’s game. Guard De’Aaron Fox is recovering from a right wrist sprain, while forward Keldon Johnson suffered a mouth laceration in the opener that required stitches.
The team is also hoping for a bounce-back performance from Victor Wembanyama, who struggled in the opener. The 22-year-old French star scored just 12 points on 1-of-13 shooting, a rare poor outing for the player who was central to last season’s Western Conference finals against Oklahoma City, which San Antonio won in seven games.
“Victor was probably frustrated for a few different reasons that game,” Johnson said. “We didn’t play well as a group. He missed some shots maybe he usually makes or didn’t play up to the standard that he holds himself to. When you have a game like that, obviously it gets a little exacerbated when it’s game one, but it’s nice about this league: There’s always another game right around the corner.”
Johnson reiterated his confidence in the Spurs’ new three-guard lineup featuring Fox, Stephon Castle, and Dylan Harper. Against Oklahoma City, Castle scored 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Harper contributed 18 points, seven rebounds, and five assists, while Fox registered 14 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists.
“Those guys are good players,” Johnson said. “I’m not trying to avoid giving you a good answer, but that thing’s going to take time for me to give you a real evaluation about it. You’ll continue to hear me say they’re three of our better players. Whatever they still have to continue to get better on and improve upon, I’m going to bet on the come with that in terms of those guys figuring out they’re good guys. They want to win and they like to play together. I think they’ll figure it out and hopefully the coach can help them.”
Harper echoed the need for better communication on the court. “Just making sure we’re all on the same page,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing, just being able to go out there and play for each other while also knowing that we have each other’s back. I feel like we did a good job at that, but we still have ways of going in all areas of the game. But it’s not going to be perfect on day one and you don’t expect it to be perfect on day one.”
The Spurs’ next test comes Friday night in Austin against Houston, where they will look to improve their cohesion and bounce back from their opening loss.
According to Yahoo Sports.
