The San Antonio Spurs have dropped two straight games to teams near the bottom or just outside the NBA playoff picture. While that's been commonplace over their last several years, including their last two with Victor Wembanyama, it's been an eye-opening experience for a Silver and Black core dominated by youth. Head Coach Mitch Johnson sees part of the issue.
“The season started in October, and it's going 'til the springtime. And you have to go to your job every day, and you have to have the right approach, and you have to execute whatever that workday calls upon,” the Spurs first-year bench boss shared.
“And we have not been as good as we needed to be the last couple of days.”
Losses to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Utah Jazz have left some scratching their heads, considering San Antonio was coming off three victories in 12 days against the thought-to-be invincible defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder.
“I think time will tell. It's easy to try to answer that now,” Johnson responded when asked if the setbacks provide his guys with a lesson on handling success.
Mitch Johnson describes the Spurs sudden struggles
The Spurs didn't shoot well in falling 113-101 to the Cavs. They went 39% from the field and 23% from 3-point range.
“It felt an unnecessary feeling of desperation at times, and I think there's probably a few different sources of that,” Johnson continued. “Some of it's motivation, some of it's trying to make a play, some of it's trying to be aggressive. Some of it's trying to extend a lead or cut a lead where you can't get six-point plays.
“I thought it looked like we had an extreme amount of anxiety on offense. We were not in rhythm for most of the night.”
Though San Antonio led most of the way – Cleveland didn't shoot much better at 43% and 31% from beyond the arc – they were never able to build a big advantage. Call it a sluggish effort or a clunky offense, though Johnson has his own thoughts.
“I think on the surface, of course, sure, there's a level of real variables that you could point to in terms of you had added visibility, excitement level of games in regards to the Cup and Christmas and whatnot. But we have a job,” Johnson said.
"Coach said that…We're not as good as everybody said were were after those games before. And we're not as bad as we showed these last two games"
-Asked Wemby if these last 2 #Spurs L's to the Cavs & Jazz are part of the growing pains that come w/contending#PorVida #GoSpursGo pic.twitter.com/Sx43JKuP5x
— Hector Ledesma (@HectorLedesmaTV) December 30, 2025
The Spurs headed into these last couple of games off two victories in three days against the Thunder and are officially winners of eight straight because the league doesn't count the NBA Cup Final as a result that goes on the record. And so a team centered on 21-year-old Wembanyama, who's flanked by fellow 21-year-old Stephon Castle and 19-year-old Dylan Harper, has been staggered by their last two performances.
“Cleveland gets an immense amount of credit for their game plan, their execution, their defense in general,” Johnson said about the second of two straight losses that include a Jazz squad that's ninth in the Western Conference.
The Cavaliers are hovering in the eighth spot in the East. Both are a ways away from a Spurs unit that's second in the West, even if it hasn't panned out that way over the last several days.
