After losing their last five games against the Golden State Warriors, the San Antonio Spurs have a chance for a second straight win against the Dubs. Two nights after knocking off the perennial playoff contender, who were without Steve Curry on Saturday and have already ruled him out for Monday's game, the Spurs face the Warriors for the second of a home and home. This time San Antonio expects to have rookie phenom Victor Wembanyama back in the lineup. They were without Wemby and second-leading scorer Devin Vassell in the 126-113 victory in San Francisco.

“We just focused. We locked in,” Spurs forward Keldon Johnson said of his team's 14th win of the season.

The Spurs used the Sacramento Kings loss as fuel

San Antonio entered Saturday's victory off a loss in which they gave up a five-point lead with under 30 seconds remaining at the Sacramento Kings.

“The game didn't go how we wanted it to last time,” Spurs forward Dominick Barlow said. “I know our record doesn't tell the whole story but we're still trying to win and still trying to play competitive basketball so any loss like that definitely hurts. It just feels good to be back in the win column.”

“We take it day by day. We gave up the game in Sac [Sacramento]. Hats off to them, they pulled on through in the end and we felt like we gave that one up,” Keldon Johnson added. “But we came in here focused, locked in, ready to play. We had each other's back, ultimately, at the end of the end. When you've got that unity on the team, you can bounce back from heartbreaking losses like we did in Sacramento.”

“They're a heck of a good group. They don't give in,” Gregg Popovich said of his team.

“We make our share of mistakes. That's for sure as a young team but they're learning, they're getting a lot more consistent in a lot of different areas. I'm just happy for them.”

“I'm just proud of all my guys,” Johnson echoed.

The longest-tenured Spur leads the way

The old man of the Spurs young core paced the team in Saturday's victory without their two best players. Twenty-four-year-old Keldon Johnson is in his fifth year with the organization. Earlier this season, he was moved to the bench to provide a scoring punch for the second unit.

“I embraced it from day one I feel like. Pop sat me down and told me that's what we needed. I embraced it. I'll still be myself. I'll still do what I do and lead my teammates and just try to be the best version of myself day in and day out,” the former Kentucky Wildcat said.

Johnson, who's third on the squad with 16.0 points per game, scored a team-high 22 in San Francisco on Saturday.

“We played the right way. We played Spurs basketball. I couldn't go be more happy for our guys. We were undermanned. No Vic, No Dev and we found a way to pull it out in the end.”