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Andrew Lopez, ESPN
HOUSTON — For everything the San Antonio Spurs did right defensively Monday night against the Houston Rockets, the team’s offense went as cold as it has been all season.
It was a frustrating setback as the Spurs dropped the game 93-82, setting a franchise record with 17 consecutive losses.
San Antonio held the Rockets to 34.4% shooting and 93 points; both marks are the lowest for a Spurs opponent by far this season but couldn’t overcome its own offensive struggles going 5-of-41 (12.2%) from three-point range.
“They played their ass off. They played a great game,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said about his team’s performance. “Just, you got to make a shot in the NBA. You can’t shoot 5 for 41 from three. … They did a hell of a job defensively, in that regard. Really proud of them. But just feel badly that it’s hard to know what to do when you’re missing that many shots. It just makes it very, very difficult.”
Victor Wembanyama had 15 points, 18 rebounds and 5 blocks for the Spurs but was 1-of-6 on his three-point attempts. Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson, the Spurs’ second- and third-leading scorers behind the rookie this season, combined to go 1-of-18 from deep.
It was Wembanyama’s third game this season with at least five blocks, the most by a Spur in any season since LaMarcus Aldridge in 2015-16.
Wembanyama said the Spurs’ defense was “pretty solid” and “something we need to keep” going forward.
San Antonio has been plagued by bad third quarters all season but held the Rockets to just 18 in the third quarter Monday. However, it could only muster up 15 itself.
Despite the result and the losing streak, Vassell still sees the progress the Spurs are making on a nightly basis.
“If we could have made a couple more shots, it would’ve been a totally different game,” Vassell said. “So I mean, I like where we’re going. Obviously, the elephant in the room is the third quarter and I think we came out a lot better than third quarter and executed and got more stops. So we were trending in the right direction. If we would’ve made some shots, I think it would’ve been a totally different game.”
The Spurs’ 82 points are the fewest for any NBA team in a game so far this season. Their 83-point effort against the LA Clippers on Oct. 29 was the previous season low for any NBA team.
Johnson, who at 24 years old is the longest-tenured Spur in his fifth season with the franchise, says the losses have been frustrating but he feels the tide turning.
“We know that we put in the work for it. We believe in each other and I wouldn’t want to do it any other group than the group we got,” Johnson said. “I’m excited to get back out there Wednesday and put another great performance team-wise and hopefully get [a] win.”
San Antonio has had one of the NBA’s worst defenses this season but has shown some improvement on that end in the past three games, holding opponents to 106.4 points per 100 possessions — a large jump from the 119.4 points per 100 possessions it allowed in the first 19 games.
“That’s kind of been telling each other as lately, that defense is what’s going to keep us close when the shots are not falling,” Johnson said. “We are a young team. We had great opportunities tonight and we had great opportunities at other games. We didn’t really hit shots so we know we got to kind of hang our hats on the defensive end.”
San Antonio returns to action Wednesday night with the first of two games against the Los Angeles Lakers, who are fresh off their in-season tournament championship run. The Spurs also host the Lakers on Friday night.
Source: www.espn.com