Through what's been a very tough season, the San Antonio Spurs have actually notched some impressive wins. They've beaten the Minnesota Timberwolves and Oklahoma City Thunder, both of whom are near the top of the Western Conference, and they had previously twice topped the Phoenix Suns. But none of them came the way Monday night's triumph did.
ClutchPoints asked Spurs Hall-of-Fame coach Gregg Popovich if, considering the circumstances, the 104-102 victory over Phoenix ranked as his most satisfying in a while.
“I don't gauge them that way. It's a win or a loss and you move on,” he said. “But, right now it feels very good. I'm very happy for them.
Spurs post-game
Asked Pop if this was the most satisfying #Spurs win in a while…
“Right now, it feels very good”
Complete answer ⬇️#GoSpursGo #PorVida pic.twitter.com/gvbZjZ4ElI
— Hector Ledesma (@HectorLedesmaTV) March 26, 2024
Without Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio upset a very talented Suns squad playing for postseason seeding that had just blown them out.
A ‘satisfying' victory
While Popovich didn't label the victory as “satisfying,” one of his best players did.
“It was definitely satisfying,” Keldon Johnson admitted. “It was a big win. Every win is satisfying.”
Johnson scored 14 points in Monday's win vs. Phoenix. Jeremy Sochan shared the team lead with 26, including the game winning three-pointer with 29 seconds left. He also grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds.
“I think the main thing was just being physical. I feel like last game, we didn't start off physical. They brought the game to us,” Sochan said. “I feel like we changed that a little bit. We started off playing fast, because of getting rebounds and just playing. That's really important. Starting the game physical and letting it come to them, too.”
Johnson enjoyed some big moments of his own. He hit a pair of three-pointers in the third quarter, which marked the turning point after the Spurs trailed by three at the half.
“My teammates put me in the right position and trusted me to make those shots,” he said. “I feel like the momentum was definitely swinging after that. We just kind of rolled with the punches. We kept going, extend the lead a little bit and made a run. As all great teams do, they made a run and we withstood it and stuck together.”
San Antonio finally holds on to the ball
A propensity to turn the ball over has plagued the 16-56 Spurs this season. That wasn't the case Monday night.
“We said those are the two things that are most important to us in evaluating each game with this group of players,” Popovich said. “It's how did we shoot from three and how did we handle turnovers? So, we got one of them really right tonight with just 7 turnovers. That at least keeps you in a game where you have a chance.
“You're out of the game when you give up too many turnovers and shoot poorly,” he continued. “We only shot 25% from three, so it's not like we burned it up, but we really handled the ball well.”
Now in his fifth year with the Spurs, Johnson often looks beyond any given night.
“We just continue to stay together as a team and have each other's backs. That’s the main thing. I feel like at any given night, we're a dangerous team as long as we continue to play together and continue to have each other's backs and play basketball the right way. We can beat any team.”
On Monday night maybe they could have. Then again, there's a reason the result proved so satisfying.
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